Alvaro Parente has lost his test driver role with the Virgin Racing team after the Tourism Institute of Portugal backed out of a sponsorship deal.
The 2005 British Formula 3 champion was announced as one of Virgin's two reserve drivers at the end of last year, but says that the deal fell apart and left him without a budget to race in 2010.
"After agreeing to everything, they fell off and didn't commit," Parente told AUTOSPORT magazine. "It was already very late, so I am a bit in the s***. I'm just trying to get something sorted for this year but I have no budget now, so it's crazy."
Some 2,000 Portuguese fans have signed a petition protesting against the sponsor's decision. With a lack of funding putting another season of GP2 beyond reach, Parente said that he was exploring possibilities elsewhere.
"I have some propositions to do some GT Open races, and we've had some contact with Superleague," he said. "Nothing is confirmed. But it wasn't what I wanted. Formula 1 was always the main objective, so we'll see what happens."