From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Foggy hopes for best of British for FPR

Carl Fogarty is hoping for the best of British luck for his Foggy PETRONAS Racing team when the Superbike World Championship returns to home shores this weekend at Brands Hatch, Great Britain.

Riders Troy Corser and home favourite Chris Walker will be aiming to repeat the encouraging results of the first half of the season at round seven, following a mid-season spell plagued by inconsistency.

But, with both riders back to full fitness and having had further chance to make progress with recent engine developments, Foggy is confident of an upturn in fortunes and a reversal of his team’s poor showing on home soil.

Carl, who won three WSBK races at Brands, said: “Our three British rounds so far have been nothing short of disastrous. The riders will say its worse for them, but I need good results more than anyone this weekend! I am used to success and I become frustrated when things are not going our way. But all I can ask is that everyone is giving 100 percent and I know that is happening. The PETRONAS engine development team have been working day and night to solve any problems that they inherited and make the engine stronger as well as faster. I know there is a lot more to come from this engine.

“When you look at the characteristics of the circuit our bike should be as strong at Brands as anywhere. It is definitely a rider’s circuit – a big balls kind of track! With a good set-up and good tyre choice, you can be down on speed but still quicker around a lap. The slowest part is Druids but that is a smooth corner where you have to be a bit careful on the throttle and the drive out is downhill. That’s very different to the slowest corner at Laguna, onto the start-finish straight, where we struggled at the last round.

“This was always a special event for me when I was racing. It started to grow around 1995 and by 1999 was the biggest single-day sporting attendance in Great Britain. It felt like I was coming home to all my fans and I really hope we can give those supporters something to cheer this weekend. Being the home round for the British riders like Chris can sometimes be a disadvantage as you can perhaps try too hard. But he desperately wants and needs a good showing here and hopefully he can enjoy some good luck, which has deserted him in previous rounds. It was never my favourite circuit to ride but Troy has won there twice and been on pole once, so I am hopeful both riders can be back in the top six.”

Carl was also keen to clarify recent press reports of a proposed switch to MotoGP. He said: “This has not been discussed with anyone. We have two more years of a deal with PETRONAS to run a World Superbike team. As long as PETRONAS are happy in World Superbikes, then so are we. Once that deal is over we will examine our options. I guess this kind of rumour is bound to surface simply because I went to the British Grand Prix on Friday.”


Circuit information: Brands Hatch, Great Britain

Best lap (revised circuit): Shane Byrne 1:26.248 (2003)
Lap record (race): Shane Byrne 1:26.755 (2003)
Superpole: John Reynolds 1:35.706 (2003)
Pole position: Left
Circuit length: 4.221km
Corners: 3 left, 6 right
Corner radius: 180 degree maximum, 40 degree minimum

Points (after 7 of 11 rounds)

Riders: 1 Toseland 204; 2 Laconi 198; 3 Vermeulen 187; 4 Haga 162; 5 Chili 160; 6 McCoy 146; 7 Haslam 120; 8 Martin 119; 9 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 101; 10 Borciani 94; 11 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 82

Manufacturers: 1 Ducati 335; 2 Honda 194; 3 PETRONAS 134; 4 Kawasaki 91; 5 Suzuki 72; 6 Yamaha 39