Sharp forced to miss Turkey.

Despite currently experiencing a successful maiden season as a saloon car racer in the World Touring Car Championship, it appears as though money woes have finally forced Ryan Sharp to step down for at least the next round of the series.

Although rumours of a lack of funds were expected to see the Scot forced to curtail his season with the independent JAS Motorsport squad at the previous round in Brno, it looks as though he has instead been forced to succumb for the 15th and 16th rounds of the season at Istanbul, leaving team-mate Pierre-Yves Corthals to go solo in Turkey.

Currently second in the Yokohama Independent Trophy, former GP2 driver Sharp has made an impressive transition to saloon car racing, culminating in a third place finish overall at the Puebla round of the championship in Mexico.

Nonetheless, while his slim championship hopes to overhaul runaway leader Tom Coronel are all but over now, Sharp has plans to return to the Honda Accord Euro R for the final two rounds of the year at Valencia and Macau.

The Istanbul grid will be further reduced by Wiechers-Sport's decision to run just a single BMW 320i for Diego Romanini, the team having failed to find a full-time replacement for the departed Emmet O'Brien. They are also in negotiations to fill the seat for Valencia and Macau.