An on-going dispute with race engine builder ORECA in France means Liam McMillan will be absent from Oulton Park’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship grid on Sunday.

All three 16-valve engines that belong to McMillan’s Maxtreme team have been kept at ORECA’s near Magny-Cours, bizarrely meaning that the 19-year-old has no motor to power his SEAT Toledo this coming weekend.

A Maxtreme statement alleged ORECA’s actions are the result of an as-yet unresolved disagreement it has with the BTC Racing team that formerly owned the Toledo’s engines.

McMillan said: “I’m bitterly disappointed to be missing Oulton Park. We sent our engines away in good time and in good faith to be rebuilt by ORECA, but they haven’t been returned.

“It hasn’t anything to do with myself or the Maxtreme team, but there appears to be an outstanding issue between ORECA and BTC Racing, the team who raced the Toledos last year and who we bought the cars off.

“We seem to be stuck in the middle of an on-going dispute and our engines, which we own, appear to be being held as ransom. We have done all we can and now it’s up to others to do the honourable thing.”