The 13-time category champion team will instead focus on its growing stable of Porsche Carrera Cup and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge entries.

The race business has been a mainstay of Australian Formula Ford for the past 25 years, and team owner Michael Ritter has been involved in Formula Ford for over 30 competition seasons.

“Formula Ford holds a special place for myself, Maria and the team. Formula Ford has been the mainstay of our team since our inception,” said Ritter.

“This decision has been made for several reasons. We have been considering the direction of the team and business for quite some time and although the decision is somewhat of an emotional one, it was one that had to be made.”

Ritter began his motorsport career in the early 90s, where he assisted the likes of Russell Ingall and John Blanchard before he headed to the United Kingdom in 1993 to work for the Swift and Van Diemen factory racing teams.

Ritter returned to Australia in late 1997 to start the Sonic team alongside Richard Davison. They entered future Supercars stars Alex and Will Davison in the first few years of the team’s existence.

In 2001 Will Davison won the team’s first national title before the team went on to take a dozen more. The winning drivers included Jamie Whincup, David Reynolds, Tim Blanchard, Nick Percat, Cameron Waters and Anton De Pasquale.

Last year it was Matt Hillyer who won the series for Sonic with team-mate Jake Santalucia second. This year will be the first time in 25 years that Sonic Motor Racing Services will not compete in Formula Ford, but Ritter has not ruled out a return in the future.

“For so long Formula Ford in this country has been the premier junior category and pathway where drivers looking to make a career in the sport either locally or Internationally drivers started their careers. Sonic has had great success not only in terms of championship wins but also as a pathway for our drivers to further progress their careers along with many of our mechanics and engineers.

“Unfortunately at present, Formula Ford doesn’t have the visibility or profile it had at its peak and the competition from other categories at this level of the sport has increased dramatically.

“I believe that given the correct backing and direction this can be turned around and I would like to see nothing more than it regain its position as the pre-eminent category in this country for young drivers from karting to transition into circuit racing,” Ritter added.