Livio Suppo is a former director of the official Ducati and Repsol Honda teams who retired from the paddock with lots of memories in mind. And what's nice about him is that he talks about it every chance he gets. The one who went behind the scenes of the Sepang incident in 2015 between Rossi and Márquez also knows a lot about Casey Stoner. And here are the latest secrets…
Casey Stoner will have had a short but intense career in the Grand Prix. A paddock whose passage he marked by splashing it with his pure talent, but also by marking it with his uncompromising character. The Australian was just as explosive on the track as he was behind the scenes. An aspect of his career that Livio Suppo, Racing Consultant highlights through two examples developed in the Gazzetta dello Sport.
First about the announcement of his retirement, suppo still remembers the words of Stoner pronounced from the Grand Prix of France : " I will retire at the end of the season, it's not MotoGP that I like. » At the time, Marc Márquez was only a hope and seeing the Australian leave the ship thus gave gray hairs to the HRC which was therefore ready to make any sacrifices. The proof… " In my opinion he announced retirement too early, from then on he took the season lightly " remember suppo which specifies that Honda put on the table a proposal ensuring 10 million per season...
« It was a monstrous offer and for a 27 year old boy to say no is courage… Either you are very crazy or very convinced. And I really appreciate that. Casey has always been consistent, rightly or wrongly. So we stopped trying, we restarted a lot, it didn't make sense to force him to run. Too bad, it would have been curious to see him against Marc Márquez” specifies suppo.
“Rightly or wrongly, Casey Stoner has always been consistent”
That being said, we could have witnessed this confrontation when, in 2015, it was necessary to find a replacement for Dani Pedrosa hurt. But morals had changed and Marc Márquez had conquered its territory. Casey Stoner was therefore rejected, which deeply upset him… “ He contacted us on Sunday evening in Qatar. And it took us by surprise » says Livio Suppo, Racing Consultant. " Nakamoto had great affection for Casey and did not want him to come back making a bad impression. And he said no. He didn't take it well and he got angry with me, convinced it was me. There, our relationship broke down and I haven't heard anything about it since. With Casey, going from good guys to bad guys happens in a flash, and sometimes you don't know why. »
A decision that the former team manager continues to believe was justified. “ It would have been nice to see him come back. But if it hadn't gone well, this would have increased criticism and tensions, distracting Márquez at a time when he was struggling after winning two titles. I still think we did well although once his test rider contract had expired he returned to Ducati. »
