The Forward Racing team have found a temporary lifeline, and will be back in action at Brno. The MotoGP team of Loris Baz and replacement rider Claudio Corti, and Moto2 men Lorenzo Baldassarri and Simone Corsi will be racing in the Czech Republic, as the team have found the finances for that race at least.
Beyond Brno, however, the question marks remain. The press release issued only mentions Brno, and not the races beyond that. However, racing at Brno will buy current team boss Marco Curioni more time to go looking for more sponsors to try to fund the remainder of the season. Racing at Brno will also show the team's commitment to both IRTA and Dorna about their willingness to try to find a solution, and perhaps buy them more breathing space.
Meanwhile, the problems for team owner Giovanni Cuzari continue. Cuzari remains under arrest on charges of corruption, money laundering and tax fraud, along with Ticino tax inspector Libero Galli. In recent days, prosecutor John Noseda, who is investigating the case, has widened his net, arresting Mario Rezzi, the former CFO of Media Action, the company involved in the sponsorship under investigation, and Pier Luigi Corrotto, a former colleague of Cuzari's in the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian police force charged with investigating financial crime. It looks unlikely that Cuzari will be released in the near future.
Below is the press release from Forward Racing:
Forward Racing will get back on track at Brno
We are pleased to announce that Forward Racing will get back on track from the Brno Grand Prix scheduled on August 16th on the Czech circuit.
Following the arrest and the charges against Giovanni Cuzari, director and owner of Forward Racing, we agreed with IRTA - International Racing Teams Association - not to deploy our riders at the start of the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on August 9th, in order to gather all the resources and to better organize the upcoming trips. This painful decision was necessary in order to try to ensure our participation to the World Championship until the end of the season.
Thanks to DORNA and IRTA and some partners and sponsors, who despite the objective concerns, they continued to support us – today we are proud to announce that we will get back on track, in both categories, from the bwin Grand Prix České republiky.
In MotoGP Loris Baz will ride the Yamaha Forward alongside his new teammate Claudio Corti, who will replace Stefan Bradl. For the Italian rider this is a return in the premier class of motorcycle racing, after the Sachsenring race in July, where he replaced the injured Stefan Bradl. Corti has already been with Forward in 2010 in Moto2 riding a Suter bike and in 2013 in MotoGP with Colin Edwards riding a FTR-Kawasaki.
In Moto2 we are proud to confirm the Italian duo composed by Simone Corsi and Lorenzo Baldassarri on Kalex.
Comments
From what I saw here...
...Forward team want's to sound like they are back for good as they said " we will get back on track, in both categories, from the bwin Grand Prix České republiky. ". Or they are really back for good?
Following this one closely
Reading German, Italian and Swiss sites as best I can via Google Translate...
Tax inspector Libero Galli was released several days ago.
Cuzari is accusing Rezzi who in turn says he was just following orders from Cuzari.
Corrotto has done time for similar offences before, in connection with a rally team. Cuzari was also involved (I think, not very sure about that). Corrotto's partner was also arrested, not sure if they mean business or marital partner as no name is given in the reports I've read.
Leopard Racing are in talks to buy Forward but their sponsor "smells funny" as several stories have put it. The CEO has had issues with unpaid bills and dodgy deals in other sports. Has anyone seen a can of Leopard energy drink in a shop?
In reply to Following this one closely by Irongut
Leopard drink
If you do a google image search for Leopard Drink then you get one photo of labelled can in isolation, then photos of their various sponsorships, and then photos of other companies energy drinks.
It does seem like they've never actually produced a salable product.