Steve Martin will be hoping to deliver in more ways than one as he enters his penultimate race for Foggy Petronas Racing at Imola this weekend.

The experienced Australian's partner, Sandra Cork, is expecting their first child in the period between the start of this weekend's 11th round of the Superbike World Championship in Italy and the following week's finale at Magny-Cours, France.

So, while FPR team-mate Craig Jones concentrates on building on recently improved results, Martin will also have one eye on off-track developments.

Martin, whose home is on the Italian border with Switzerland, said: "Unless the baby is born in the next couple of days, she will be coming to Imola this weekend and I have left it up to her whether she travels to Magny-Cours. As long as we are always within half an hour of a hospital then everything should be okay. This project has always been on the edge, so it's nothing new!

"The last two rounds have shown that we can consistently score points on the FP1 so, if everything goes well and we have a bit of luck, we can score points again at Imola.

"It is one of the classically styled tracks like Brands Hatch or Phillip Island - not an easy track to ride and that helps us a little bit.

"I had my best result there last year with a fifth, when the conditions were a bit iffy'.

"That's when team-craft comes into play and the FPR team has always been strong in that department."