Second in the inaugural Moto2 World Championship in 2010 with Julian Simon, former GP 500 rider Eskil Suter also won the constructors' classification that year, as well as in 2011 and 2012.
Marc Marquez was crowned in 2012, then first place in Espargaro Pol on Kalex the following year gradually guided customers towards the German manufacturer. So much so that by a snowball effect everyone wanted to ride a Kalex, which put Suter on the sidelines. But the Suter Racing Technology team nevertheless continued to work on the MMX2, and the machine manufactured in Turbenthal in Switzerland (between Zurich and Constance) found new customers to return to the track during the Grands Prix of the next year.
Let's take stock of the current situation with Didier Langouet, responsible for on-track operations and therefore a former collaborator of Marc Marquez.
Who will be the teams and drivers who will ride a Suter next year?
“There will be Team IntactGP, with Folger who will be replaced by Schrotter. So with two German drivers who will be Marcel Schrotter and Sandro Cortese. There is talk of Team Kiefer, but it has not yet been signed, there have been no factual tests. Other people are getting in touch because Folger rode this bike very well in Valencia. These two days of driving took place in unfavorable conditions. At the end of the first day it was very windy. We always try to finalize the day by setting a good time with new tires. We could ride, but not in the record times.
The second day was more complicated because we were included in the tests for the Spanish Championship (not the European Championship). There were around forty drivers on track, many of them at a rather amateur level. This was even less obvious as due to the wind that had blown during the night, the track was quite dirty and had less grip than the previous day. Despite everything, Folger had very good times and we were able to work efficiently. The Kalex Engineering development team was there with Sam Lowes, Franco Morbidelli and Mattia Pasini to prepare for next year. There was also the Öhlins manager for Moto2 at Marc VDS and Gresini.
A team like IntactGP has a 100% German image, with Kalex as well as Sandro Cortese and Jonas Folger (replaced by Marcel Schrotter in 2017). Why did this team, as well as another German team like Kiefer, choose a Swiss Moto?
“It happened exactly the same way with us two years ago. As they say, the wheel turns. We put ourselves on the market, even if it is complicated to do development when the riders and teams are in full season, with motorcycles from another manufacturer. The ten-day trial limit hasn't made things any easier. We went to the Spanish Championship at the end of last season with drivers from this championship. With the Suter team, we managed to make a bike that seemed suitable since Pasini had also done tests at Misano before the Grand Prix. He had set good times and was very happy with the bike. Intact GP wanted Folger to try the Suter because they wanted to change bikes (for reasons that are not for me to comment on). It was a big chance for us, because Folger is neutral due to his time in MotoGP in 2017 with Tech3. He therefore had no preference to show.
Kiefer Racing is moving from WP to Öhlins because they say that with WP running their own machine next year, they are certain they will never have the same suspension as them.
“It makes sense, but WP can't provide bad equipment to make their bike ahead of the others. They have an image to maintain on a commercial level. But of course a private team cannot imagine that it will have the same equipment as the factory which will be in the full development phase.
What percentage of parts are common to the old Suter and the new one?
“Visually, it will remain a Suter. We're not going to revamp everything. We know that when our bike disappeared from the set, it wasn't bad. We have improved it in the details, but especially in terms of the new “full floating” type rear suspension. The shock absorber is fully floating in the swingarm, there is no direct connection between the shock absorber and the chassis. It goes through rods. The fixed connection of the shock absorber is in the swingarm. We developed this suspension in-house. For the current bodywork, as seen in the photo, we use old fairings. There had been a prototype made, with a slightly different profile, developed in a wind tunnel. But unfortunately during testing in the Spanish Championship it was destroyed. The saddle will be different and the aerodynamic shapes at the front improved. »
Photo: The Suter team in Valence, including Didier Langouet on the left, with Jonas Folger (© Suter)
