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Reading between the lines a little, Lloyds' departure is not directly related to a sudden lack of funds (on his side) but lack of confidence in the team. Ian Harrison's departure last month feels like just part of a lot of back office politics, not just within 888 but within the entire BMR 'empire'.
I think it's enviable that 888 will lose a TBL. Any replacement driver will need to be in for the remainder of the season and I can't honestly see there being anyone with an available budget at such short notice, and one that is willing to step into a far from ideal situation.
This might be a bit of an off-the-wall left-field suggestion, but try this for size.
Josh Price gets moved sideways from BMR to 888, and BMR reduce down to 3 cars. As some of the funding comes from BMR Academy anyhow it's less of a hard sell to Price. On the face of it BMR take the hit and lose a TBL rather than 888, but as it's all under Warren Scott's ownership that's largely a moot point. Scott/BMR/888 have been overspending anyhow and would probably welcome the chance to downsize - wasn't there a suggestion from Scott before the start of the season that they might only run 3 Subarus this year anyhow. The side benefit is that it now means Plato can replace his damaged car with the undamaged one previously used by Price. The team don't have the budget to build Plato a new car, and no amount of set-up changes was ever going to fix a bend chassis, so getting Price's car puts Plato back in the game.
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