After winning the world championship title in 2020, Suzuki failed to win a race in 2021, coincidentally after the departure of then team boss Davide Brivio. Can the appointment of a new team boss reverse the team's fortunes?

Ducati and Honda Supremo to Join Suzuki MotoGP Team

While there is no one cog in a MotoGP team's organisation that should be more important than any other, often the opposite is true.

When Suzuki lost team manager Davide Brivio after the successful 2020, title-winning campaign, it was feared that the team was left without a rudder, never mind the strength in depth of the personnel who had been victorious in the title race. However, results on track in 2021 showed that that wasn't the case as the Suzuki Ecstar team failed to win a race.

Now, Suzuki Ecstar is looking to reverse that fortune by recruiting one of the most successful team managers of recent years. Livio Suppo oversaw Ducati's rise to World Championship success when he was team manager at Ducati during Casey Stoner's successful 2007 season. He then moved to Honda and masterminded Stoner's title winning year in 2011, along with three championships with Marc Marquez before Suppo left Honda to pursue other interests, although he stayed in the MotoGP limelight with various vocal comments about the sport, including Honda's struggles without Marquez' on board.

With the appointment to Suzuki, Suppo will have the opportunity to show how he will do it once again.

“I am very proud to become Suzuki Ecstar’s Team Manager and happy to rejoin the MotoGP Championship after four years. I’m also very honoured to be involved in this great project with Suzuki; for sure it will be a challenging task to be part of an historic manufacturer in MotoGP, who recently achieved the crown in 2020 in the year of their 100th anniversary.

“I also feel it will be a great experience to start working with two talented riders like Joan Mir and Alex Rins, both capable of fighting for the top in MotoGP. Sahara-san’s proposal came at the perfect time for me, I had been busy setting up my e-bike company but I was certainly missing the paddock and ready to come back.

“Racing has been my life for almost all my career and I will do my best to bring my experience to Team Suzuki Ecstar. I know they are a great team, but also a great group of humans, so this could help a lot to achieve our goals sooner.

“MotoGP nowadays is more and more exciting, with many very fast riders and competitive motorcycles from all manufacturers. It’s a difficult challenge for everybody involved, where all the small details can make the difference, I am ready to be part of the game again and give my all to be on top with Suzuki.”

With the move to Suzuki - and presuming he can take Suzuki back to the top step - he will become the first manager to take three different manufacturers to World Championships.

He will have his work cut out, however, as the Suzuki GSX-RR might be acknowledged as the best handling package on the grid but, along with Yamaha, its in-line four-cylinder engine loses out on ultimate power to the V4s of Ducati, Honda and KTM.