Mario Illien plans to win MotoGP

British newspaper 'The independent' reports that Formula One engine guru Mario Illien wishes to break the Japanese and Italian winning streak in Moto GP by designing an engine that must win the championship for Britain for the first time since the 1950s. The new engine is to be debuted at the Portuguese round this year.

In 2007 though, a new team will be started up to use the engine which is aimed to win the championship by 2010. The new engine is an 800cc V4 that he hopes will be assessed by Max Biaggi or Alex Barros at the end of this season. Together with the engine from Illien's company Ilmor, a chassis was designed by Swiss engineer Eskil Suter who previously worked for Kawasaki.

"We have demonstrated in Formula One and in the USA that we can do the job as well as larger organisations," Illien said yesterday. Ilmor engines designed by Illien have already won two Formula One titles with McLaren-Mercedes and 11 Indianapolis 500 races.