Foggy WSB bike to debut at Brands

DELAYS in engine preparation mean the Foggy Petronas FP1 race bike will miss its planned debut at the U.S. round at Laguna Seca. Instead, the bike will debut a month later at the Brands Hatch round.

The Foggy Petronas team was hoping to go testing at Almeria in Spain next week but the late delivery of the engines has meant this has also been put back for at least an extra week.

Foggy said: “It was always our intention to start racing at the first opportunity. However, the very tight deadlines for everyone involved in this programme have meant that we have had to weigh up whether the time spent travelling to America would be put to better use on additional testing time nearer to home. I now hope that our debut can be at Brands Hatch where I always received such tremendous support during my career.”

A team spokesman said: “There is a slight delay in the engine readiness and we need to do some testing before we race the bike. If we were to commit to going to Laguna it would mean going straight from some testing and going to America and missing two and a half weeks of possible testing before Brands Hatch.

“What we have achieved so far has been incredible so a two week delay in getting the bike out is not that big a deal and going to Laguna would only harm getting ready for the rest of the season.

“We all feel launching at Brands Hatch will be an even more special moment because of the British fans and the fact that the team is primarily staffed by British people.”

More on this in MCN, out on Wednesday, June 26, 2002.