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WCM will make their 2003 MotoGP debut at Donington Park this weekend.

Team riders, Chris Burns of England and Spaniard David de Gea will ride two-stroke 500cc four cylinder Yamaha machines after the teams original 2003 four-stroke prototypes were ruled out for technical infringements by the FIM.

WCM last competed with the YZR’s last season, when Garry McCoy and John Hopkins rode in Red Bull colours. However, these machines are a little older – one of them being the bike that Niall MacKenzie raced to third place in the 1993 British Grand Prix at Donington.

`It is not ideal but at least we are getting on track after so much hard work by the team,´ said Burns. `They have completely rebuilt the bikes and we have tested them at Rockingham on Tuesday before going to Donington. The last time I rode a two-stroke it was a 125cc machine and I´ve never ridden a 500cc four-cylinder two-stroke but at least I´ve had a day at Rockingham to sort it out.”

Both Niall MacKenzie and Rob McElnea have told me they are a bit of a handful and so we will see. The bikes will obviously not be competitive with the four-strokes but I´m racing at a circuit I know and so I hope we can qualify. We plan to race them at Donington and two weeks later in Germany but after that we hope to have our own four-strokes.”