[Acidreign]

**A little older, but relevant**

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) - Ilmor have announced their temporary withdrawal from the 2007 World MotoGP Championship just one race into the season because of a lack of sponsorship, the team said.

Team principal Mario Illien said development of Ilmor's 2007 bike would continue and they would seek to re-enter the competition.

"Obviously it was an extremely difficult decision for us to make," Illien said in a statement.

"However, once we went through all the options, we decided that the best course of action would be to put the racing side of things on hold and continue developing.

"We have important meetings over the next few weeks to establish the future of the team and project.

"I am determined to explore all opportunities available to us and I'm hopeful there will be a positive outcome.

The British-based team was launched in Portugal at the penultimate race of the 2006 season, and made an inauspicious bow in the new 800cc format.

Australian rider Andrew Pitt retired seven laps from the end of the opening race of the season last week in Qatar and Northern Ireland's Jeremy McWilliams was unable to race after a crash in final qualifying.

(Writing by Miles Evans in Melbourne, editing by Ed Osmond, Asia Sports Desk)