By alley - Apr 13, 2016, 6:31 AM ET

FV8 3.5: Strakka puts team on hold

Strakka Racing has suspended its Formula V8 3.5 championship program and will miss this weekend's season opener at Aragon after failing to sign drivers with sufficient budget.

The team joined the series in 2013 in cooperation with P1 Motorsport, and last year it finished fourth in the championship, with Cypriot Tio Ellinas claiming two wins. Emil Bernstorff and Beitske Visser both drove for the outfit recently at a series test at Barcelona, but Strakka did miss the final pre-season test at Aragon last weekend and announced on Wednesday that its entry was on hold.

Its absence means that 15 cars will contest the first round of the 2016 season, which takes place at the Spanish venue this weekend.

Team principal Dan Walmsley said FV8 3.5 remains an attractive proposition for Strakka and that the team was working on a return.

"We had fantastic support from both the championship organisers and our own partners," he said. "Everyone has done everything they could to make it work but it is getting harder and harder to find drivers capable of raising the funds necessary. Everyone at Strakka is extremely disappointed by this decision and we would especially like to thank Jaime [Alguersuari Sr] and the team at RPM for their support."

Walmsley insisted the decision was a reflection on the whole single-seater landscape rather than FV8 3.5's loss of Renault support this year.

"We really like the championship; it offers great value and proper racing," he said. "It's simply a question of economics and a wider problem of young drivers increasingly struggling to fund single-seater racing. Strakka still wants to have a single-seater presence and both cars are prepped after a winter rebuild and are ready to go. Should we get the chance to return at some point, we would be ready."

Strakka's other engagements in the World Endurance Championship's LMP2 class and Renault Sport Trophy - which both start this weekend - will go ahead as planned.

ARAGON FV8 3.5 ENTRY LIST

Fortec Motorsports: Louis Deletraz, Pietro Fittipaldi
Lotus (Charouz): Rene Binder, Roy Nissany
Arden Motorsport: Egor Orudzhev, Aurelien Panis
AVF: Alfonso Celis Jr, Tom Dillmann
Durango: Giuseppe Cipriani
RP Motorsport: Johnny Cecotto Jr, Vitor Baptista
SMP Racing: Matthieu Vaxiviere, Matevos Issakyan
Teo Martin Motorsport: Yu Kanamaru, Beitske Visser