FB Corse told to prove competitiveness

The new FB Corse squad will only be given clearance to race in the 2010 MotoGP world championship if it can demonstrate its new three-cylinder 800cc machine is competitive.

International Race Teams Association boss Mike Trimby has confirmed to MCN that MotoGP Safety Commission delegate Franco Uncini will attend any testing carried out by FB Corse.

Only if the FB01 is competitive against current lap times will the squad, which recently signed Aussie veteran Garry McCoy, be given permission take on the might of Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and Suzuki.

IRTA boss Mike Trimby told MCN: “’They were on the entry list originally with (John) Hopkins but now they signed McCoy.

“But the issue is we have not seen them go around in circles yet. Before confirming a contract with them we want to have evidence that this bike is capable of being within three or four seconds of what we’ve got.

“So it would be silly to agree to something that wasn’t very competitive.

“They have been asked to let us attend one of their tests, or come to one of ours, and show off their wares.

“I am proceeding with FB as if they are in for the season but we are not making it official until we see the bike.

“If they don’t come to one of our tests we would send Franco to go check the lap times.”

The FB01 triple, which has been designed and built by Italian-based Oral Engineering and was originally built as a concept for BMW, was expected to be on track by the end of last month.

And there is still no official confirmation that the team will attend the final official MotoGP test in Qatar on March 18 and 19.