First CRT MotoGP wild-card entry announced

Attack Performance has been granted wild-card entries for both American rounds of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship, to be held at Laguna Seca from July 27-29 and Indianapolis from August 17-19.

Attack Performance is designing its own chassis under the new 'Claiming Rule Team' (CRT) format at its 10,000-square-foot shop in Huntington Beach, California.

The aluminum-framed machine will be powered by a heavily modified Kawasaki ZX-10R-based engine.

“I've wanted to design my own chassis for 10 years,” said team owner Richard Stanboli, “so this new class structure, essentially a Superbike engine housed in a prototype chassis, has provided an ideal opportunity for me. We have a great deal of work to do before the first event at Laguna Seca, but I'm no stranger to 20-hour days.”

Daytona 200 winner Steve Rapp will ride the Attack Performance entry.

The AMA Pro Road Racing veteran has past podium finishes at both Laguna Seca and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In March, Rapp recorded two top-six placings in the season-opening AMA Pro American SuperBike races at Daytona International Speedway.

“Steve and I work well together,” said Stanboli. “Laguna is a difficult track to learn, and we will have a home-court advantage over some of the other CRT teams. Steve has many laps around Laguna, and we intend to hit the ground running.”

Nine of the new CRTs are present on this year's 21-rider full-time MotoGP entry list.