Team 48 Motorsport which plans to campaign the former A-Tech Alfa 156 racers in the British Touring Car Championship this year with Darelle Wilson and Matthew Gore has postponed its planned debut.

Former England football star Luther Blissett’s Team 48 Motorsport squad has chosen to postpone its debut in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship until Rockingham in mid-April.

The outfit was scheduled to make its first appearance in Brands Hatch’s season-opening rounds this coming weekend (29-30 March) with a pair of Alfa Romeo 156s for drivers Darelle Wilson and Matthew Gore. The N.Technology built cars have been purchased from the A-Tech team which bought and campaigned them in the BTCC last year with drivers Dave Pinkney and Richard Marsh.

One of the team’s chief aims is to promote multi-racial participation in motor sport and Wilson’s and Gore’s race numbers – 19 and 48 – reflect the year 1948 when the ship SS Empire Windrush carried the first significant group of Caribbean migrants to the UK.

However, delays in completing one of the Alfas has forced its withdrawal from the Brands fixture and it will now concentrate instead on Rockingham's 13 April date.

Ex-England and AC Milan footballer Blissett said in a team statement: "2008 is a very special year for us. Not only does it mark the 50th anniversary of the BTCC, it also marks the 60th anniversary of the SS Empire Windrush, which docked at Tilbury in 1948. To complement this, it’s important that all of our drivers are properly prepared and have sufficient time in the car prior to a race. Without this, we would be doing ourselves an injustice, which is why we took the decision to opt out on this occasion."