Motorsport: Fogarty team debut put back

Carl Fogarty has been forced to put back the debut of his new race team to July to meet rules of the World Superbike Championship.

The four-time World Superbike Champion had hoped for the Foggy FP1 bike to have its first race at the fifth round of the series at Monza in Italy on May 12.

But although the Foggy Petronas Racing team will be ready to hit the race circuit by then, the Malaysian oil giant Petronas will not have produced 75 road-going race replicas, which have to be ready to go on sale by that date to meet the rules of the Championship.

The team will now open their race programme at Laguna Seca in California on July 14 and the bike will have its European debut at Brands Hatch in Kent two weeks later.

Fogarty had already planned to write next season off as a development year, but the late start will make it harder to attract riders even if it gives the team extra time on the test track.

With most of the top names already signed up Fogarty has to persuade two riders to join what is effectively a development programme in the first year of a five-year deal with Petronas.

"I want them signed up by Christmas so something should be happening in the next week or two,’’ said Fogarty.

‘‘The first European race being in Brands Hatch will be great, I hope all of my fans turn up to see the bike,’’ added Fogarty.

The Blackburn-based former racer revealed that Fabrications Techniques, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, will build the chassis of the race bike.

They were awarded the contract because of work they have already carried out for teams in both Formula One car racing and motorcycle racing.

Sauber Petronas Engineering, a joint venture between the Swiss and Malaysian firms, have built the engine for the race bike which is a modified version of a prototype they had intended to use in Moto GP.