No Petronas test until April… if all goes well

Troy Corser and James Haydon will test the all-new Foggy Petronas FP1 World Superbike for the first time in April if the next stages of development go to plan.

With the Christmas break over, development of the new 900cc three-cylinder machine and the team structure will speed up – the first priority being finding a design Carl Fogarty and backers Petronas are happy with.

The look of the bike is being kept secret until it has been finalised but Foggy is known to want a bike that looks as striking as the Ducati 996.

Corser is still not officially confirmed at the squad – legal delays in getting contracts sorted out were not helped by the Christmas break.

But Corser says: ” I am not looking anywhere else and as far as I am concerned the deal is done – all there is to sort out are the tiny legal details that you always get at contract time. I just want to get this deal done as soon as possible. ”

The most important new element of the bike is getting Sauber to redesign the 990cc three-cylinder engine to fit in with WSB rules. This is going to take a lot of work but it’s hoped a first version of the bike will be track tested by Corser and Haydon at the end of March somewhere in Europe.

Team manager Nigel Bosworth said: ” We are on target at the moment. The most important thing for us to get sorted over the next few weeks is the design – and we have until the end of the first week in February to get it sorted out. ”

” We have to remember that 80 per cent of it is going to be fitted to the first high-spec road version as well. The only difference will be the 20 per cent of different components that make up the lights, the horn and all the other parts that have to be fitted for homologation rules. ”

Brembo will supply brakes and Ohlins the suspension. The choice of race tyres is going to be left to the two riders to decide between them with Corser likely to favour a return to Michelin after a well-publicised fall-out with Dunlop over the performance of tyres on the Aprilia RSV1000.

We’ll bring you official confirmation of Corser’s deal as soon as it is available.