Encke Sport puts back BTCC plans.

The newly-formed Encke Sport team has announced that it is putting back its plans to enter the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

The team, backed by Finnish international footballer Peter Enckelman, had planned to enter a brace of Vauxhall Astra Coupes into the BTCC this season to get to grips with the series before switching to Super 2000 machinery for 2008.

However, having decided that more time is required to put the finishing touches to the team and ensure that everything is properly in place, the team has elected to miss at least the first half of the new season, with the focus being on bringing the Super 2000 programme forward to look at an entry for the second half of the year.

The team will continue with its junior team in the new Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup, where Simon Shaw will drive a Renault Clio.

"After much thought and consideration we believe the time scale we allowed ourselves to build a competitive team was not realistic," team principal Ed Tilley explained. "We feel we need another three to four months to complete the development of our head-quarters and put our infrastructure into place.

"Therefore we will not be competing in this years BTCC with the Vauxhall Astra as previously hoped and we will instead focus our efforts on our Junior Team in the Dunlop Sport Maxx Series. We will also bring our S2000 programme forward. We will evaluate a number of cars before making our decision in July."

Encke will continue to have a presence in the BTCC paddock by adding support to Welch Motorsports assault on the 2007 SEAT Cupra Championship.