We told you about it with the approach taken by Aprilia with a Pramac team which is thinking of Ducati and here is the reminder with the approach of Suzuki undertaken towards Marc VDS Racing: the manufacturers involved in MotoGP which do not yet have satellite teams are indeed looking for partners. But it's not simple.
It is all the more complicated as the teams already in place are happy with their current partner. The proof, Avintia hastened to perpetuate its collaboration with Ducati with two GP17s up for grabs. At Pramac, we have already explained to the Aprilia men that they were not the priority. Borgo Panigale will go before Noale.
At Suzuki, we do not remain inactive. Marc VDS Racing is being watched closely. A structure all the more interesting as it is assured of its budget for quite a few more seasons. But Michael Bartholemy is not the type to let go of Tokyo's prey for the shadow of Hamamatsu: " For the moment, I have no response from HRC » comments the Belgian on speedweek. " We had a meeting with them in Qatar and the Japanese then told us that they still needed time to assess the situation. That's a delay of around a month. The month of April is ending and I haven't restarted them. But I plan to do it in Jerez ».
In addition to the budget, the Belgian has political arguments: “ with Moto2 and Morbidelli, we are showing that we are training young people who could be useful to HRC in the future. But hey, we have nothing to say that we will continue with Honda in 2018 ". Furthermore, competition is head-on with the LCR team which also wants to continue with Honda and which has a Crutchlow already useful in its ranks. Even though he is 31 years old, the Briton weighs on the current results of the RC213V.
Meanwhile, Jack Miller subscribes to the top 10 and Tito Rabat grab points. But we need a little more: “ the RC213V is an easier bike to ride than it was two years ago. We progress every year. We are better than in 2016. We scored points at each of the three Grands Prix. But we cannot yet put all the elements together to do better. This is our concern at the moment. We lack regularity. Jack Miller was sixth in FP3 for a moment before regressing and finished twelfth in Q.1 ". The potential is there. We must now make it happen.
