A popular and rising star in the TCR Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, Michael Clemente has been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s TCR World Tour meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park.

With two rounds of the domestic season to go, Clemente and the Carl Cox Motorsport Cupra Leon Competition sits eighth. But budgetary issues has forced the Victorian’s withdraw from this weekend’s event.

Despite the decision, Clemente is hopeful that he will be back for the final round of TCR Australia, and the second leg of the Kumho TCR World Tour, at Mt Panorama the following weekend.

Clemente and his family-run team have a large ban of jubilant supporters, and scenes of backers, family and friends have been a highlight of the Australian series since he debuted the car in May.

He finished sixth in Race 1, won Race 2 and was second in the last at Phillip Island. He followed with pole and first up victory in the next round at Winton Motor Raceway and has had numerous top 10 finishes since.

“Unfortunately, we won’t be able to make this weekend’s TCR Australia round at Sydney,” Clemente stated on social media.

“We’ve done absolutely everything we could to try and put together the funds to make it there, but ultimately there just wasn’t enough left in the kitty litter.

“It’s a massive shame to miss such an incredible opportunity to race against the Internationals, something I’ve been looking forward to all year and have been super focused on, as well it being a track that I thought would suit our Cupra perfectly.

“We’re still working nonstop to attend the final round at Bathurst, where hopefully we can put in a strong performance against the world’s best.”

With the team’s withdrawal, the field now stands at 24. The Kumho TCR World Tour and Supercheap Auto TCR Australia will share the grid at Race Sydney on November 3-4. They will then journey to Mt Panorama for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International on November 10-12.