From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:
`Slowly but surely’ predicts Foggy for FPR in Germany
Carl Fogarty is hoping that the slowest circuit on the Superbike World Championship calendar will not put the brakes on his Foggy PETRONAS racing team’s progress this weekend.
On the back of the successful reliability test provided by the high speeds of Monza last time out, riders Chris Walker and Troy Corser enter the fifth round of the series, at Oschersleben, Germany, facing a new set of challenges in their bid to maintain second spot in the manufacturer standings for PETRONAS.
With the next stage of engine development, aimed at increasing torque and horsepower, still in the pipeline, Chris and Troy will be relying on the handling and set-up of the FP1 to make up for the lack of grunt coming out of the track’s many tight corners.
Carl said: “It would be great to have more of the same this weekend. Expectations are increasing as the motors become more reliable and hopefully this circuit will be more suited to our bike than Monza. Chris went well there last year, while Troy did not do as well. That will hopefully spur him on and they could both be in the top six, if not banging on the rostrum door again.”
Chris said: “I like Oschersleben and really enjoyed the race weekend there last year as I got a fourth place in race one and third in the second race. The track’s a bit different to all the others on the calendar as it’s very twisty and fairly slow – it’s probably most similar to Misano although it’s not completely flat. There are a lot of corners fitted into a small space so it’s a fun and interesting rack to ride. It was the first race last year where I really got into my stride and, although I feel I’ve already done that on the FP1, it’s a good memory to have of that track. I feel confident our bike will go well there as we have a good set up and there are no long, fast straights demanding a lot of throttle and outright power.”
Troy said: “This not a bad circuit but, when you look at the shape of some of the corners like turns one and two, it’s really better as a car track. There are some tricky little chicanes which in a car wouldn’t be a problem as you’d just run over the kerbs, but that’s not so easy on a bike. The shape of the track is interesting and it’s all medium speed really, with third and fourth gear corners. It’s a similar layout to Misano and we have a good set up so it should be a fairly good weekend for us as it’s not a horsepower track – the back straight is quite long but the rest is very twisty.”
Circuit information: Oschersleben, Germany
Best lap: Neil Hodgson, 1:26.502 (Superpole, 2002)
Lap record (race): Colin Edwards 1:25.549 (2002)
Pole position: Right
Circuit length: 3.667km
Corners: 7 left, 7 right
Corner radius: 70m maximum, 44m minimum
Maximum slope: 2.5 per cent
Points (after 4 of 11 rounds)
Riders: 1 Laconi 120; 2 Toseland 117; 3 Chili 97; 4 McCoy 87; 5 Vermeulen 83; 6 Haga 69; 7 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 69; 8 Borciani 68; 9 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 66; 10 Haslam 64
Manufacturers: 1 – Ducati 200; 2 – PETRONAS 90; 3 – Honda 83; 4 – Kawasaki 48; 5 – Suzuki 47; 6 – Yamaha 22.
Foggy Petronas Racing Previews World Superbike Race At Oschersleben
Foggy Petronas Racing Previews World Superbike Race At Oschersleben
© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.