Late withdrawals have forced organisers to postpone the inaugural V8 Sleuth Touring Car Classic until 2020.

The special event for ex-V8 Supercars of the pre and post-Project Blueprint era, Super and Future Tourers and invited cars was set to join the Shannons Nationals bill at Winton from August 31-September 1.

However, a handful of late dropouts prompted organisers Liam Curkpatrick and Aaron Noonan to postpone the meeting until next season.

Work will now begin on finding a new date and venue for 2020.

“Since we first announced the Classic back in late March we have had huge levels of interest both in Australia and New Zealand,” said Noonan.

“The support of CAMS, car owners, a range of partners including Kumho Tyre and Motorsport Parts Australia and the industry in general has been really encouraging.

“But we really want to do things properly and we’re not prepared to run an event with minimal cars on the track, so hence the decision has been made to press the pause button this year, re-load and look ahead to 2020.

“There’s a range of competitors who have been busy preparing their cars that have had last minute delays with components and some others that have had overseas business commitments and timings change – that’s life.

“This gives competitors more time to get their cars ready to ensure that we have a healthy field of cars when the inaugural Classic goes ahead down the track.”

The Shannons Nationals round at Winton will see TCR Australia headline the bill with the touring car category joined by the Australian Prototype Series and the Porsche 944 Challenge.