Marshall confirms IntaRacing split.

Despite the high hopes of pre-season, the Team IntaRacing programme suffered another bodyblow this week, when driver Marcus Marshall issued a statement confirming that he was no longer a part of the set-up.

The team's problems began before a wheel was turned in anger when title sponsor Access Cash, a brand owned by team principals Daniel Tzvetkoff and Salvatore Sciacca, closed down. Since then, the team has scraped by until a potential deal with Sherrin Rentals looked set to expand from mere sponsorship into full ownership. However, that prospect then evaporated on the eve of the Townsville round, leaving speculation that Tzvetkoff, Sciacca, their IntaBill brand and another venture, BT Projects, remain under scrutiny by the Queensland Supreme Court over allegations that they are being pursued for an alleged $52m by the owners of the Full Tilt Poker website.

Marshall, clearly frustrated at seeing another effort to break into the V8 Supercar series on a firm footing stymied, confirmed earlier this week that he was no longer associated with the team and would be looking elsewhere to extend his career.

"After many months of speculation and hard work, I would like to announce that, as of today, I am no longer associated with Team IntaRacing," he wrote on Tuesday [18 August].

"Since October last year, I have worked alongside the owner of Team IntaRacing, Daniel Tzvetkoff, to establish the team, often going beyond the realms of what is normally expected for a driver in helping to secure staff, equipment, infrastructure and, more recently, potential sponsors and buyers for the team after the collapse of Access Cash and it's parent company, IntaBill.

"After months of negotiations and sleepless nights, unfortunately the day has come for me to cut all ties with the team. Despite the closure of the workshop, I am proud to say that I personally could not have done anything more to keep the team going.

"The team held so much potential and I think we proved that my business model of the customer team situation can work very well. In six races with no engineer - just myself engineering the car - we had a top nine finish, setting a new lap record in the process.

"Who knows what we could have achieved over a three-year period. I truly believe we could have won races as we had great equipment and a great team to get the job done.

"Since the withdrawal of the funding from Access Cash and the team owners, I have done everything in my power to get all creditors paid. I would like to now take this opportunity to apologise to any parties which did not receive payment - I understand that this is difficult and it is a situation which I too find myself in after putting in my own money to try and keep the team afloat.

"Throughout the time I have been associated with Team IntaRacing, I have received overwhelming support from V8 Supercar fans. We have received emails and 'phone calls from a number of people all offering help to us through volunteering their time at the workshop and events and to those people I would like to say thank you.

"I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to our staff. Contrary to what it may have looked like from the outside, we were not a big team or very well funded, however, in a short amount of time, Team IntaRacing achieved what some other teams have been trying to do for years.

"I would also like to say a huge thank you to Team IntaRacing's manager, Keith Evers, who has worked alongside me and also done everything in his power - and more - to keep the dream alive.

"The closure of the team is now having a huge impact on my own career. We are at the halfway point in the season and most of the endurance seats are filled, so it is going to be very hard for me to stay in the sport. However, my motto is 'never give up' and I feel I still have a lot to give to motor racing and V8 Supercars.

"Overall, I can say it's been an eye-opening and extremely difficult experience for me, but I have learnt a huge amount about people and life, including what it's like to drive a great V8 Supercar with a great team.

"I am sad to sever ties with Team IntaRacing but, as hard as we tried, there was just no light at the end of the tunnel and it was a situation that had to come to an end one way or another."