Exclusive interview with Mario Illien

He also explains why he announced last Thursday that his outfit would withdraw from the MotoGP championship after just one race of the 2007 season.

Q: Did you really get home after Qatar and find there was no money, or did you start the season knowing things were tight?

Mario Illien: "I just didn't feel it was the right thing, to go and burn money and not go anywhere with no sponsor, so I rather thought we stop racing and we develop things and then we come back. I've been funding this project for 21 months..."

Q: Surely Roger Penske can help out, as he is a 50% shareholder of Ilmor MotoGP?

Illien: "It is a question of whether or not it makes business sense or not. I really don't want to be a sponsor, and neither Roger, as he has his racing activities to look after."

Q: What about doing something with BMW? They've been interested for some time now?

Illien: "I've spoken to lots of different people and we had overall a lot of interest, but we didn't get anywhere near to a completion."

Q: Ilmor Engineering use a Triumph engine in a Military project, so what about Triumph?

Illien: "We spoke to Triumph a long time ago, many years ago, but they didn't have any interest in MotoGP."

Q: Is it your best scenario to sell the engine or sell the team?

Illien: "We can split it up. We initially started out with the engine... We can look as it as the engine, or we can look at it as the complete team. I wouldn't have a problem getting together with someone just on the engine front."

Q: Where are you at with regards to paying your suppliers - like Michelin, Ohlins, etc?

Illien: "We have paid what we have used so far. We have not paid for the whole season if we are not going to use it..."

Q: ...and riders and mechanics and team members?

Illien: "For the moment, if we get the sponsorship for Jerez we will be there as the equipment is there. We still have the people and we still have the riders."

Q: When is the cut off for funding?

Illien: "I think something has to come along before June or May; otherwise we are too far behind."

Q: Are you going to go testing in the meantime, or will you wait until some money comes in?

Illien: "We will continue developing and lot of that will be on the dyno, but we have four bikes plus spare parts, so we have all the equipment we need.

"I want to go testing when it makes sense for us to go testing on the road. Work on the dyno is obviously a more economical way to do things than on the track."

Q: You had some engine failures in Qatar and then during the test afterwards, is this a problem?

Illien: "I don't think there is a problem. Not at all."

Q: What did Dorna's Carmelo Ezpeleta say about Ilmor's announcement?

Illien: "He's understanding. He can't obviously help me financially, but if he knows something, we're in contact.

"He's obviously not happy that we are not continuing, but despite this, I'm still going to go to the Dorna Sponsorship Forum in Barcelona on April 12th, and it will be important to express some of the issues that we have experienced."

"It is a shame, but at the same time we are going to keep fighting and we're not going to give up."