User:Trident13/TFR
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Team Foggy Racing is a motorcycle racing team, focused on the World Superbike Championship, based in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England.
The team was formed in 2000 by former four times World Superbike chmpion Carl Fogarty.
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[edit] Team Foggy Petronas
[edit] Background
Fogarty raced for the then brand new PETRONAS Sprinta Superbike team, in the 1992 Malaysian Superbike championship. Fogarty and Petronas maintained contact, including personla sponsorship.
In 2000, having nettted 59 victories and four World Superbike Championships (1994, 1995, 1998 and 1999) while riding mainly for the Ducati factory team, Fogarty was forced to retire from racing in 2000 after a racing incident at Philip Island, Australia when he hit a back-marker and crashed. He suffered multiple injuries, including a serious shoulder injury which failed to heal well enough to allow him to race again.
On deciding to start his own team Team Foggy Racing, press speculation at the time was that Fogarty would either join or run a Ducati based team, but when seeking sponsors and approaching Petronas was advised that the petroleum company were developing a 989cc tripple engine, termed the GP1, with its Swiss-based joint-venture company Sauber PETRONAS Engineering (SPE). The business plan was to lease the GP1 to Grand Prix motorcycle teams, but the link with Fogarty resulted in a five year agreement to modify the GP1 to meet World Superbike regulations in a new motorcycle, the Petronas FP1 – the Malaysian Superbike.
[edit] Petronas FP1
– evolve from an initial idea to a fully operational race team, with the production and homologation of 150 road going FP1's completed in just 18 months!
The team's high profile five year deal with PETRONAS commenced at the beginning of 2002 and, after record-breaking achievements and homologation by March 2003, the PETRONAS FP1 and Foggy PETRONAS Racing (FPR) made a historic debut in the World Superbike Championship at the first round of the season in Valencia, Spain. An impressive front row grid position in qualifying and points finishes in both races was achieved, followed swiftly by a fifth placed finish - the team's best result of its first season - at Phillip Island, Australia. Following the team's debut season in the championship, the PETRONAS FP1 road version was launched in Kuala Lumpur in October 2003. Reversing the tradition of a race bike being derived from a manufacturer's road bike, Foggy PETRONAS Racing developed the race bike first. The development of the road bike therefore benefits from race technology and extensive testing data, with 80 per cent of the race bike being transferred directly on to the PETRONAS FP1 production road bikes.
At the opening round of only the team's second season of racing in 2004, Chris Walker powered the PETRONAS FP1 to its and the team's first ever podium with a third place finish, with Troy Corser following this up at Misano to take the second step on the rostrum. Two pole positions, at Oschersleben and Magny-Cours, further highlighted the FP1's development progress, enabling PETRONAS to claim a creditable third in the manufacturers' championship standings ahead of the established Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. The experienced Australian pairing of Steve Martin and Garry McCoy greatly furthered the development of the PETRONAS FP1 throughout 2005, with Steve Martin achieving the team’s highs of qualifying in second place at his home circuit of Phillip Island and finishing fifth at Imola. For 2006, Steve remains with the team for his second season on the FP1 and is joined by rising British star, Craig Jones, making his debut in the World Superbike Championship.
[edit] 2006
22 February Fogarty and Petronas part company
Fogarty is searching for a new sponsor for the 2007 season Carl Fogarty's World Superbike team are looking for a new backer after announcing that title sponsor Petronas will quit at the end of this season. The four-time world champion's team was founded with backing from the Malaysian oil giant in 2003.
But they have struggled to compete with Ducati and Honda, and have managed just two podium positions in three years.
Fogarty said he wanted his Burton-based team to continue racing and had begun searching for a new sponsor.
Fogarty said: "We always knew that building a brand new motorcycle and to compete against the might of the more established motorcycle manufacturers would not be easy.
"Nevertheless, we are proud of all our accomplishments and to have been able to overcome all the obstacles we faced, to come this far, is an achievement."
The World Superbike Championship begins this weekend in Qatar.[1]
[edit] Chronology
| Year | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 23 November | PETRONAS sign five year sponsorship deal with Carl Fogarty to run his own team – Foggy PETRONAS Racing |
| 18 December | Foggy PETRONAS Racing sign James Haydon | |
| 2002 | 18 January | Foggy PETRONAS Racing sign Troy Corser |
| February | Clay model to CAD designs | |
| March | Wind tunnel testing | |
| 21 May | Official opening of Foggy PETRONAS Racing's headquarters in Burton-upon-Trent , Staffordshire | |
| 11 June | Launch of Foggy PETRONAS Racing at Delfina Restaurant, London | |
| 28 July | First public appearance of the PETRONAS FP1 with demonstration laps by Troy Corser, James Haydon and Carl Fogarty at Brands Hatch in front of an electric 126,000 strong crowd | |
| 2003 | 30 January | FIM announce the FP1 has passed homologation for competition in the 2003 Superbike World Championship |
| 1/2 March | Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s WSBK debut at Valencia, Spain | |
| 30 March | Troy Corser takes the chequered flag in fifth place in race one at Phillip Island, Australia – his and the team's first top five finish and best result of the debut season | |
| 17 May | PETRONAS announces its development of a racing fuel for use by FPR in the PETRONAS FP1 race bikes | |
| 24 July | FIM announce the second batch of 75 units of the PETRONAS FP1 road version have passed homologation inspection | |
| 23 October | Launch of the much anticipated FP1 road bike in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | |
| 11 November | Chris ‘The Stalker’ Walker signs with FPR for 2004 to partner Troy Corser | |
| 2004 | 29 February | First podium for the FP1 and FPR – Chris Walker claims 3rd place at Valencia in his first ever race with the team |
| 18 April | Second podium – Troy Corser takes the 2nd step of the rostrum at Misano | |
| 8 May | UK road debut of the FP1 road bike, ridden by Carl Fogarty in London for the charity Parliamentary Review Ride | |
| 29 May | First pole position – Troy Corser achieves the FP1’s first pole position and record breaking 30th pole of his career at Oschersleben | |
| 2 October | Second pole position – Troy Corser takes his and the FP1’s second pole position of the season at the final round at Magny-Cours | |
| 3 October | PETRONAS claim third place in the manufacturers’ standings ahead of established Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha | |
| 9 November | FPR signs experienced Aussie pairing, Garry McCoy and Steve Martin for the 2005 championship | |
| 2005 | 2 April | Front row qualifying – Steve Martin qualifies in second place at his home round in Australia |
| 2 October | Steve Martin takes fifth place in race one at Imola – his and the team’s best race finish of the season | |
| 14 September | Steve Martin re-signs with FPR for 2006 | |
| 19 October | Rising British star, Craig Jones, signs for FPR for 2006 | |
| 2006 | 15 February | Announcement that 2006 will be the team's final season with PETRONAS |
[edit] 2007
Having lost the sponsorship of Petronas, Team Foggy racing aimed to run a customer Ducati 999, but needed sponsorship to fund racing in a team which was speculated to include former World Superbike champion Neil Hodgson. Unfortunatly, sponsorship was not found, and Fogarty announced that the team would miss the 2007 season.
On 3 May 2007, MV Agusta and Team Foggy Racing announced a partnership to address the 2008 World Superbike Championship. MV Agusta President Claudio Castiglioni was owner of Ducati when Fogarty won his first two WSB Championships in 1994 and 1995. Team Foggy racing will race develop the new 2008 F4 R 312, which Fogarty is expected to ride during a special Parade of Champions on 8 June as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Isle of Man TT. MV Agusta last appeared there in 1972, when Giacomo Agostini recorded his last of 10 race wins on the island.[2]
