It was in 1998 that Livio Suppo made his appearance in Grand Prix when Honda entrusted him with his only official 250 cm3 with Tohru Ukawa when he had just set up Team Benetton, the HRC being also very busy with Mick's 500 Doohan, Alex Criville and Tadayuki Okada. Suppo didn't do so badly with a fourth place in the final, and three podiums in Japan, Catalonia and Argentina.
This result attracted the attention of his compatriots at Ducati for whom he subsequently officiated, before becoming Director of Marketing and Communications for the HRC, that is to say fifth in the team hierarchy. MotoGP, behind four Japanese.
During the Valencia tests, Marc Marquez had achieved the second time at 0.196 from Maverick Vinales, but the other Hondas were further away with Dani Pedrosa fifth and Cal Crutchlow sixth, both at 0.7. At Sepang, Marquez was second again, this time 0.138 behind Vinales, while Pedrosa was fourth at 0.2 and Crutchlow eighth at 0.3. There was even less danger in the matter as it was only the first test of this year, but the general impression was that the 2017 version of the RC213V could be improved.
Livio Suppo thinks much the same thing, while remaining positive: “There is still a lot to do, but it is already better than last year at the same time. We can therefore be reasonably satisfied.
“After this first test session of the year, the engineers will have to study all the data recorded. There are still several days of testing before the first Grand Prix. Of course, there are still a few areas to work on, including electronics as always. The engine may need a different setup, but overall we're happy. Michelin brought tires that are good for everyone, so I think we are working correctly. »
Livio Suppo is on the left in this photo taken during the team's recent presentation in Jakarta
Photos © Repsol
Source: motogp.com
