One of the news with the greatest impact in the days prior to the start of the 2022 MotoGP season was the announcement by Suzuki of the hiring of the Italian Livio Suppo as the new team manager of the Japanese structure, who after the departure of Davide Brivio at the beginning 2021 had kept this strategic position vacant.
Although Suzuki waited until the last moment trying to win back Brivio, who announced that he was going to continue working for Renault in car racing for another year, the word given by the project leader, Shinichi Sahara , to cover the position before to start the course, precipitated that the signing of Suppo was closed in a few hours.
“Sahara, at the last minute, called me to ask if I was interested in returning to MotoGP, and honestly, I thought it was a great opportunity to return to this great sport, with great riders, and here I am,” explains Suppo himself in a video interview published by Suzuki on their social networks.
After eleven seasons at Ducati and eight at Honda , Suppo has been out of the paddock for four years, a time in which MotoGP has undergone great changes and has equaled itself to the maximum.
“First of all congratulations to Dorna and the MSMA (manufacturers association), who have done a great job. Especially with the introduction of the single software provider, the level of the bikes is becoming more and more even, and this is very good for the show. The other side of the coin is that this equality makes it more difficult than before for the drivers, because the level of competition is even higher”, he values.
An absence that the Italian executive hopes to compensate with his long experience.
“Honestly, the fact that I’ve been away for four years doesn’t bother me so much, because more than 20 years of experience can’t be ‘cancelled’ from one day to the next. It’s true that I’ll arrive just before the first race, but I know the paddock and I know some people in the team, so I am confident that I can start working from the beginning”.
In that sense, one of the unknowns that arises is whether Suppo will maintain a continuing profile with Brivio’s work or will try to impose his personal stamp on this new stage.
“Each one has their own style and each team has their own characteristics, so for sure I will have to listen a lot to all the people in the team. I will do my best to do a good job and adapt to Suzuki’s style, but also contributing something. from my own personal experience.
One of Suppo’s biggest challenges in the short term is deciding on the driver line-up for next season, with Joan Mir and Alex Rins out of contract at the end of this year.
“I am happy with both riders. I think that Suzuki , since their return, has been very smart in choosing good riders, both have already shown that they are capable of winning races. Also, the bike, from the outside, seems to have given a big step since last year. I have seen the test results and it seems to me that everyone is happy, and I really believe, and I will do my best, so that Suzuki is one of the main contenders for the title, “concludes the one from Turin .
