At the moment, Suzuki will remain without a satellite team in the near future. However, a new trend has emerged in the Moto2 category, where more and more MotoGP brands are actively supporting a mid-tier team to promote and sign promising young riders.
KTM has been one of the pioneering brands in this process, with the Ajo team for years. Honda, for its part, operates the Honda Team Asia in the two small categories. This season Yamaha has also financed a Moto2 team that works in collaboration with VR46.
Could Suzuki also imagine entering into a cooperation with a Moto2 team? The team manager of the team formed by Alex Rins and Joan Mir, took a position on the matter.
“I think KTM has done a very good job in Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP in recent years,” Livio Suppo introduced.
Suppo does not want to rule out this option: “It would be a very good idea for the riders to train at least from Moto2. Moto3, however, would be more difficult for us.”
Since the return of MotoGP in 2015, Suzuki has consistently focused on young talent, so a second team in the premier class is not ruled out in principle. However, the probability of this happening is still low.
“We know that a Suzuki satellite team has been waiting in the paddock for several years.”
“But you still have a lot to do before you pull it off,” Suppo said. “For many years, the ideal situation for Carmelo [Ezpeleta] would have been for the six manufacturers to equip four riders each. Obviously you need six brands that are willing to race these bikes.”
“So the bikes also have to be competitive. It would be very difficult to ask a satellite team to race a non-competitive bike,” he added.
With eight prototypes, Ducati is the most powerful factory on the grid. Is that too much for other brands?
“First of all, we have to be happy that we have 24 bikes on the grid and that they are all more or less competitive,” said Suppo.
“In my opinion, it’s better for a rookie when the bike is already developed, and the Ducati’s top speed is obviously very strong,” he concluded.
