Has anyone seen FB Corse?

The future of the FB Corse squad still remains shrouded in mystery with the Italian-based team yet to be seen in track testing ahead of a planned 2010 MotoGP assault.

But it seems that the FB Corse squad did have plans to test during this week’s two-day Sepang session in Malaysia.

The clue came on the timesheets in the Far East when the name of American John Hopkins was a surprise inclusion on the circuit monitors.

The former factory Suzuki and Kawasaki MotoGP rider held lengthy talks with FB Corse officials about joining the three-cylinder project.

But he opted to try and resurrect his career by signing a Suzuki GSX-R1000 deal in the American Superbike series.

Having been turned down by Hopkins, FB Corse turned to Aussie veteran Garry McCoy and he was unveiled at the team’s official launch in Italy earlier this month.

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 this month.

Jorge Lorenzo’s name also appeared on the timesheets in Sepang today but the Spaniard is out of action while he recuperates from the broken right hand he suffered in a motocross training accident near Barcelona earlier this month.