After a disastrous start to its debut 125cc grand prix season, Team Haojue has split from esteemed engi🎐ne designer Jan Wittevee🌜n.

Haojue riders Michael Ranseder and Matt Hoyle have only started one race between them and the Chinese backed team withdrew from last weekend's Italian Grand Prix 'in order to concent♏rate on addressing the problems af𒐪fecting the engine performance' of its machine.

The team had been battling to overcome a huge '17-22km/h' top speed deficit and, upon announcing the split with Witteveen, slammed the former Aprilia engineer for providing an engine 'neither race competitive nor reliabl𒁏e'.

Haojue even labe🐓lled the unique upside-down engine as 'potentially dangerous'.

"Team Ha🎃ojue has terminated its contract with Dutch engine designer Jan⛦ Witteveen," said the statement.

"Jan Witteveen waꦰs contracted to deliver a state-of-the-art, race competitive 125cc GP engine and continue its development over a three year period. However, after 18 months of development it is clear from the engine's lack of performa🅠nce in the early 2009 GP events, where the Haojue riders have either failed to qualify or sometimes crashed due to engine failure, that the engine is neither race competitive nor reliable.

"As well as the continued lack of performance and the reliability problems which make the machine potentially dangerous for the Team Haojue riders and other riders on the track at the same time, the Haojue𒊎 team management has been deeply concerned by the lack of progre🅠ss and communication from Witteveen on plans to overcome the problems."

Team Haojue is run by former Suzuki g꧂rand prix team manager Garry Taylor, with a chassis designed by Harris Performance. Motorsport legend John Surtees acts as team patron.

The team is owned and financed by Haojue, China's biggest motorcycle𓃲 company with a production output of over three million machines in 2008.

It remains to be seen if Haojue will return to action at the Catalan Grand Prix💃 on June 14.