James Toseland laughs off Foggy criticism

James Toseland has laughed off recent comments made by four-time World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty ahead of his home Grand Prix debut this weekend at Donington Park.

In a recent interview Fogarty said he didn’t think Toseland had the heart to win in MotoGP, however the Tech 3 Yamaha rider said he took the comments all in jest.

The question to Toseland sparked a succession of funny banter between the Brit and the riders joining him in the press conference.

When Chris Vermeulen asked Toseland what Fogarty had said, Toseland replied that Foggy had made a comment that he didn’t have to heart to win in MotoGP, to which Vermeulen wittily replied, “Did he?”

During the pre-weekend press conference Toseland said: “I know Carl really well.

“He’s a really good friend of mine and there are no problems between us.

“I’ve been in Carl’s company before when he is with the press and he’s a journalists dream – he always says something controversial.”

Donington Park is only the second track Toseland has visited this year with previous knowledge of, with the first being the opening round in Qatar.

And although he’s not had as many races at Donington as some of the company he’ll be keeping this weekend, he said it was comforting to know where he was going.

“It’ll be nice to know which direction to go out of the garage,” added Toseland.

“It’s been exciting learning new track like Catalunya and Mugello, but it’s difficult to get up to speed against these guys.

“But we had a good test at Catalunya, and it sounds like everyone else did, but I hop that helps this weekend.”