Ilmor 800 'faster than Ducati'!

Legendary Formula 1 and Indianapolis engine builder, Ilmor, has raised expectations ahead of its MotoGP debut in next month's Portuguese Grand Prix by claiming to have lapped quicker than the Ducati 800... on Dunlops!

The team recently named 34-year-old Garry McCoy as its sole rider in the final two GPs of the year, at Estoril and then Valencia on October 29, before the British company launches a full two-bike team in 2007. McCoy has already tested the 800cc V4 at Albacete and Barcelona in preparation for the team's October 15 race debut.

"It's a real bonus for us to have a rider like Garry, who has won in 500cc GPs, to be on the bike for the two wild-card races in Europe," said Ilmor boss Mario Illien.

Illien is going to attempt a remarkable feat in MotoGP, because he claims that he wants his bike to be competitive enough to go for the world title within three years - which means by 2010. If he wins the championship he will be only the second manufacturer ever, after Honda, to win world titles on two and four wheels.

"It's great be back in MotoGP and riding a bike with this sort of horsepower and speed," McCoy said. "I'm keen to get amongst the MotoGP guys again."

"When I first tested the bike in Albacete I couldn't believe how small it was, but fortunately for me I'm small too, so I knew it was not going to be a problem.

"The bike felt good straight away on the first day. I couldn't go too fast on it because I didn't know the track, so I thought I'd take it easy, but I feel very comfortable riding it."

At Barcelona the team shared the track with Ducati's new 800cc prototype, itself impressively fast when tested alongside the current 990cc machines after the Czech Republic Grand Prix, but Ilmor claims that McCoy lapped 0.4 seconds faster than the new Italian V4.

"That was on Dunlops, so we are pretty pleased with the performance so far," Ilmor's managing director Steve Miller told Crash.net. "We were running six or seven lap stints and were 0.4 seconds faster than the 800 Ducati, and one second slower than the (multiple race winning) 990 Ducati."

Now the team will test at Estoril next Monday and Tuesday - September 23-24 - and will be encouraged by the fact that Michelin, the most successful tyre manufacturer in MotoGP, will supply rubber.

Ilmor is now seeking sponsorship to support its full-scale entry into MotoGP next year. "There may be peripheral sponsors in Estoril, but no main sponsor," Miller said. "But our plan is to get out there and prove what we are capable of doing."

He confirmed that McCoy will be on a list of potential riders for 2007 if he performs well in the Portuguese and Valencian races.

Swiss engineer Eskil Suter, who has previously worked with the Foggy Petronas world Superbike and Kawasaki MotoGP teams, has designed the Ilmor's aluminium twin-spar chassis.