Livio Suppo spent 11 years at Ducati where he was the “MotoGP Project Manager” when Casey Stoner won the title with a GP7, the only one to date for the Italian manufacturer. Livio, before working at Ducati, had already been working with Honda since 1995. After leaving Ducati in 2009, he joined HRC in 2010 as Marketing Director, before being Director of Communications and Marketing in 2011 and 2012, then from 2013 to 2017 team manager, before being pushed out and recently replaced by Alberto Puig.
Suppo told Speedweek. com how he got to the paddocks: “In 1996, Honda offered Benetton support for the 250cc team. Benetton bought all the advertising space on motorcycles and leather. I spent from 3 to 1996 on this project. In 1998 and 1996 with Ukawa and in 1997 with Ukawa and Melandri. Marco was very young. In 1997 he made a wild card, in 1998 he came as a regular driver to the team. »
“My idea was to take the color concept of white, light blue and Benetton F1 blue, where they were very strong at the time. Everyone thought it was the color of Benetton, but it was the color of a Japanese cigarette brand that was not sold in Europe. »
“I tried to sell the space to sponsors. Benetton was a cool brand in motorsport at the time. I did that, what Lucio [Cecchinello] is doing now, and I sold the advertising space on our machine for every Grand Prix. When we couldn't find a sponsor, one of Benetton's sports logos appeared like that of roller skates Rollerblade ».
“But Benetton didn’t really believe in the project. I had a lot of ideas. Already in 1997, a meeting with Valentino [Rossi] took place. Benetton said : “If you find the money for this, you can carry out the project”.
“But they didn’t want to take any risks themselves. They wanted to have the sponsors before signing contracts with the drivers. It was very, very difficult. After three years of doing my best for this project, it became difficult. Then I got a call from Ducati and joined them in 1999.”
“It’s funny because I arrived in the World Championship in 1996, the same year as Valentino. In fact, as a driver, he should have stopped earlier than me. In 2015, I told him we had been doing this for 20 years now. He still remembered the beginnings and the colors of Ukawa's bike. »
“I asked him how he found the motivation to continue. He told me : “The difference is that you work and I have fun.” Valentino really loves what he does. He is incredible. »
Photos © Yamaha and HRC
Source: Thomas Baujard for Speedweek. com
