Suzuki’s return to the MotoGP Championship continues to gain steam, as the Japanese company has submitted a request to Dorna for testing during the 2013 season. Talking to BBC Sport, Dorna’s Carmelo Ezpeleta said “[Suzuki] are asking us to have some testing during the 2013 season and if everything goes well maybe we will see them in 2014.”
Suzuki is said to be looking to test its GP race bike with the MotoGP field, and perhaps even run a few wild cards in 2013, before launching a full program the following year. Many names have been linked to the Suzuki project, with Randy de Puniet the lastest MotoGP rider to be associated with the team, and tipped to be Suzuki’s test rider.
Aspar Team Principal Jorge Martinez has reported given De Puniet his blessing to do double-duties with Suzuki, though it is not clear how RdP would handle a wild card entry with Suzuki, should things get that far (news of a contract has yet to come to fruition).
Suzuki is reported to be working on a inline-four GP bike, which will draw a closer link to the company’s GSX-R sport bike range. However, it is not clear if Suzuki has committed to the inline-four motor, or if the Japanese company was testing the engine configuration against its current V4-powered Suzuki GSV-R race bike.
Before Suzuki can return to MotoGP though, Suzuki must convince Carmelo Ezpeleta that it is fielding a competitive entry, as Dorna seems to be taking the quality over quantity approach with the factory prototypes. A return of Suzuki to the grid would mean four manufacturers in MotoGP, the same number as in Formula One, which Ezpeleta is keen to point out.
By requesting to test with the MotoGP field, Suzuki is sending a signal that it has achieved as much as it can from testing by itself. Ready to compare its progress against the other factories, testing events and wild card rides in 2013 must surely be seen internally as the next step necessary in progressing the Suzuki GP project to the next level, before the team goes racing in 2014. Good stuff.
Source: BBC Sport
Spies & DePuniet for 2014 Suzuki factory squad?
I would love to see Spies on a real factory ride again, no offense to Pramac or Ducati.
@Ken C.
Agreed!
the fact that jorge martinez is willing to release RdP to suzuki as a “test” rider is suspicious. i’m thinking martinez is looking to be the team boss for suzuki’s factory effort.
I see no harm on letting Suzuki strut their stuff against the others and see where they are standing and if it’s reasonable to dive in head first.
I bet Speleta and his B&^% a$$ ways will them to F-off unless they sign a contract.
I hope they ditched the V-4 and went for the I-4……..after all…….IS WHAT THEY DO BEST (not to mention they don’t sell a single V-4 Street bike that could possibly relate to their effort(s)).
Permission Granted only if the Rizla Girls “uniform” is ditched. The baton wielding, bus driver hat, cop in a porn movie motif is downright UGLY. Bring some class to the class.
Having more factories in MotoGP is only a good thing.
now all we need is kawasaki to come back
Team Green big bang!!!
Given Ducati’s poor performance over the last few years, the bar for Suzuki should be set pretty low. Suzuki has performed very well in AMA racing and in WSB, so it seems that the company knows how to build an I-4.
I would be very happy to see Suzuki back on the grid along with some other manufacturers. We never got to see a showroom Honda V-5, but in many ways, the technology developed in Moto GP has made its way into street going machinery. In that sense, the series has value for manufacturers as being prototypes, they can experiment with ideas without having to homologate for production racing.
The big problem for me in GP for the last couple of seasons has been the lack of competition. Strong entries from other manufacturers can only help in this regard. Obviously, CRT has been and will continue to be a complete failure.
“Before Suzuki can return to MotoGP though, Suzuki must convince Carmelo Ezpeleta that it is fielding a competitive entry, as Dorna seems to be taking the quality over quantity approach with the factory prototypes.” & “A return of Suzuki to the grid would mean four manufacturers in MotoGP”
That Carmelo dude has big balls! With the pitful grid of 17-20 bikes, half of those uncompetitive CRT bikes and the ‘retirement’ of their multi-time world champ for political (Dorna hating) reasons, I don’t think Carmelo’s in any position to dictate to the Japanese OEMs.
Dorna had better wake up and smell the coffee. MotoGP needs more factory participation, and now! A bunch of underfunded private teams being lapped do not make for a premier world championship. I’m quickly losing interest, due to the great show in WSBK.
However, as Dorna now own and run WSBK, I guess there’s not many options at the world level… I guess that gives him some leverage. Bugger.
And Randy dP ? really??
He had his chance(es) in MotoGP. Time to hang them up and give some fresh blood a chance.
Unless Suzuki want to test the crash worthiness of their bikes ;)
Seriously, except for three seasons, he ‘retired’ from at least 5 races (1/3 of the season) every year of his career since 1999. He’s never had year without at least 2 ‘retirements’.
@Singletrack: As much as RdP pissed me off on a Kawi, ever since he got that LCR ride he has proved how fast he can be. Being the fastest CRT guy has only helped make him look faster. He has matured a lot, and I would like to see what he can do on a factory ride before he gets “too old” and out of his prime. It’s a smart move by Suzuki in my opinion. Get the guy to know will ride the back past the dye to find out where that edge is.
@JoeD:
ROTFLMAO. Yeah, the outfit is geting a bit overused & worn out. Maybe cool with the BDSM crowd but not most of us.
The Monster Girls are rather looking good (not to mention that most of them have a SPANKIN BOUNCY RACK)…lol.
If anybody, it will be Hopper if he’s healthy…..
Vermeulen return
If St0ner can ride any bike, like people say he can, this would be a good wild card for him, imagine the PR for not only Suzuki but that of MOTO Gp.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=suzuki+motogp+2013&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1024&bih=438&tbm=isch&tbnid=nITbAvoEkcktSM:&imgrefurl=http://www.kaskus.co.id/showthread.php%3Fp%3D751051188&docid=laPIFKBUFsDqIM&imgurl=http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/253536_373311669404873_1334965162_n.jpg&w=720&h=452&ei=I5LXUMLYBsa80QWxjIGYDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=204&vpy=124&dur=3274&hovh=178&hovw=283&tx=149&ty=203&sig=110145494943686115612&page=2&tbnh=141&tbnw=224&start=10&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:0,i:133
A long winded link i know, but picture makes good viewing