Suzuki Ecstar Team Manager Davide Brivio talks about the future, discussing plans for a Suzuki MotoGP satellite team. A project that could become reality in the light of 2022…
He had already mentioned it and now said it again more forcefully. The team manager Davide Brivio of Team Suzuki Ecstar is once again considering the arrival of a satellite team from the 2022 MotoGP season. The matter has been discussed for several years without any decision having been taken in this direction by the parent company. Now obvious for Davide Brivio: “cIt would make sense if we had two teams. This would allow more data and information to be collected and speed up development.”
If this project is still in the works after so many years, there may be a good reason. This is also why Brivio does not want to catch fire too quickly: “even if it is something that we have ardently wished for years, we must however remain careful, it is a wish and not yet a reality, I must be careful of what I say".
The team manager still mentions that according to him the time has finally come: “we spoke to Dorna. The new contract between the marketing company and the teams begins in two years. We would like to try this new adventure. We talk about it with the people in the paddock. There is an obvious interest even if having a satellite team is not an obligation for us ” explains the boss of Alex Rins et Joan Mir.
On the financial side, at present, the contracts between the teams and Dorna are made as follows: for a maximum number of 20 Grands Prix, each customer team receives 2,5 million euros from Dorna for each driver. At the same time, factory rental packages for private teams are capped at €2,2 million per driver per season. Only development parts can be invoiced separately.
The idea of a MotoGP satellite team headed by a certain Valentino Rossi Could it thus ultimately germinate? It would absolutely not be stupid to have such a partnership with Suzuki and Davide Brivio. The nine-time world champion already has experience since he is already represented in the Moto3 and Moto2 categories with the SKY VR46. “We really want this satellite team. We just need to find someone who wants to do it to us. We are working and prospecting in this direction” adds Brivio.
In 2019, Suzuki's MotoGP project manager, Shinichi Sahara, already mentioned this possibility: “We are thinking about how we can manage and organize this with a satellite team. We haven't come to a conclusion yet. What is certain is that we will not have a satellite team next year, this will only be possible from 2021".
Now Brivio is postponing its plans to 2022.
To date, only Suzuki and Aprilia do not have a satellite team and only field two motorcycles, unlike Honda with LCR, Yamaha with Petronas, Ducati with Pramac and KTM with Tech3. Avintia Racing, which currently cooperates with Ducati, is the last private team. Suzuki or Aprilia could thus, in the long term, win over Raúl Romero's team with a view to a possible purchase and consequently become a satellite team.
At Aprilia, the technical director Romano Albesiano specifies his vision of the future for his team: “we plan to start with our own factory team from 2022. We also hope to then equip a customer team.” That would please Carmelo Ezpeleta. The Dorna boss has dreamed for years that each manufacturer would compete with four motorcycles: “It would be ideal to have six factory teams and six customer teams. We do not force manufacturers to do this, because otherwise we would influence the market".
