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 V4𓆏 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 fꩲeat 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 t𒉰he second manufacturer ever, after Honda, to win world titles on two and four wheels.

"It's greﷺat 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 w🍎ith Ducati's new 800cc p🔜rototype, 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 mahbx.com. "We were running six or seven lap stౠints and were 0.4 seconds faste🦹r than the 800 Ducati, and one second slower than the (multiple race winning) 990 Ducati."

Now the team will test a👍t 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 rubbꩵer.

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