Corser’s WSB team dead in the water

Troy Corser’s World Superbike project appears to be dead in the water, with team manager Gemma Voces Pons releasing a statement yesterday slamming the team’s financiers and threatening legal action after her, her team and rider Tony Elias and Ayrton Badovini were left unemployed.

Supposedly funded by a projected race circuit in the Dominican Republic, the sponsorship has now disappeared, leaving eighteen of the crew unemployed.

The team have been speculated to be in difficulty from the very beginning, and missed both pre-season testing and the first round of the championship late last month in Corser’s native Australia.

The double World Superbike champion became involved in the project after his own Down Under Racing project fell through last year, and was set to become the sporting director of the outfit.

Speaking in the statement, Voces Pons said: “Up until now, Costantino Tontarelli [the Team Coordinator] and I have not talked for a number of reasons. The team is currently not in a good situation. No one has received a single cent from the team owners – Yoselyn Robinson and Manfredi Lombardi. No one is to blame for this situation except these two people. During this difficult period, Dorna, BMW and Alpha Racing have been very supportive to us.”

“We have been working on this new team project for over a year and feel very disappointed and angry about the whole situation. Not only because it seems that our time has been wasted but also because we are 18 people without jobs and it is not likely we will find something at this late stage now. We are fighting to receive our salaries and BMW, Alpha Racing, Ohlins and many more are also waiting to receive what is owed to them.”

We will defend the mechanics and riders best interests in this matter and I will personally take legal action if the money is not paid to us all. Having said that, we are more than ready to start if the owners decide to pay what’s owed.”