Workers at Prodrive face job cuts

Mr Richards said the company was facing tough times

Jobs are set to go at the British motorsport firm Prodrive, based in Oxfordshire, the company chairman has told BBC Oxford.

The company, based in Banbury, is a partner of Suburu, and managed the Subaru World Rally Team.

Suburu announced it was pulling out of next years championships due to the economic downturn.

It is not known how many workers are facing redundancy but chairman David Richards said it was "a sad time."

Mr Richards said the firm was facing some tough decisions.

"It's a very sad time for us - we've had a relationship now with Suburu for 20-odd years.

"We've had some great successes with some world championships victories some great drivers with us.

"But the whole economic situation in Japan at the moment has been very testing for them."

He said the the world championships represented about 20% of the company's business and also employed a "significant" amount of people.

He added: "Hopefully this isn't a sort of goodbye from the world championships more of an au revoir - but from our point of view we have to look to the future now and work on new projects.

"We'll have to look at things in a positive frame of mind."