From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Foggy’s Phillip Island fillip

CARL Fogarty is eagerly awaiting the start of the new World Superbike season following his Foggy PETRONAS Racing team’s latest test, in Australia.

The four-times world champ stayed at home in England while riders Troy Corser and James Haydon got to grips with the challenging curves of the Phillip Island circuit, near Melbourne. The team move on next week from Australia to Sepang in Malaysia, home of petroleum giant and team backers, PETRONAS.

And more positive results from the last three days of action have left Carl anxious for the racing to start, at Valencia on March 2.

He said: “I knew Troy would go fast for us at Phillip Island. It’s his home circuit and suits his style. By the second day he was doing the same lap times that the leading riders achieved last year. James has also made good progress over the last few days and it will have done him a lot of good to test there before we go to race there at the end of March.

“We still have a number of areas on the Foggy FP1 to work on, but we think we know the solutions. So we are hopeful that there is more to come and we are also working closely with Michelin.

“The heat and humidity of Malaysia next week will provide us with new challenges, but we now have more horsepower and torque from the engine and, although testing time is still crucial for us as this stage of the development of the bike, we are all looking forward to the start of the racing as the potential has been shown.”

Troy Corser said: “I am feeling like part of the bike now. The handling of the bike is very good and engine feels stronger and cleaner than before, and the new clutch systems worked well. I produced the lap times relatively easily so, overall, I’m reasonably satisfied.”

James Haydon said: “To come away from here 1.3 seconds down on Troy is very encouraging, especially in very windy conditions. We have made nice steps forward every day and I have made big improvements in the chassis, especially at the front.”

The three-day test at Sepang starts on Friday, January 24.