For the first time since 2001, Suzuki is entering a new MotoGP season with a championship to defend after taking the crown to Joan Mir last year – while his efforts along with teammate Alex Rins also earned Suzuki the team’s title.
Suzuki is the only team on the 2021 grid with an unchanged line-up. Mir and Rins are banned from the Japanese brand until the end of 2022.
Suzuki was the last team to pull the covers off its revamped paint job for 2021 in Qatar on Saturday afternoon. It sported a largely similar look to last year’s GSX-RR, with more branding added from new partner Monster Energy.
Suzuki starts the new season without the long-time team manager Davide Brivio, who made a shock switch to Alpine in Formula 1 as race director of the renamed Renault team.
With this in mind, Suzuki has decided not to hire a direct replacement for Brivio, who acted as team manager from 2013 and led the return in 2015. Instead, it is led by a management committee made up of seven high-profile personalities from the entire racing team.
Suzuki GSX-RR, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Photo by: Suzuki
“2020 has been a fantastic season for us and we want to maintain that momentum in 2021,” said team director Shinichi Sahara.
“After former team manager Davide Brivio left the team, I thought it was a huge loss for the team.
“But in fact we have the super professional people on the team and their skills and abilities are more than enough to make up for this loss.
“Even with our two super strong drivers Joan and Alex they are real title contenders again this year.
“There is also great support from the factory engineers in Japan, as well as from the test team and test driver Sylvain [Guintoli] and [Takuya] Tsuda-san, we are 100% ready for the new season. “
Suzuki GSX-RR, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Photo by: Suzuki
Reigning champion Mir, who has been nominated for a Laureus Award, announced last month that he will not be racing the number one.
I’m sticking to the 36 he drove during his Grand Prix career, making it the number one not to be seen in 2021 for the ninth time in a row.
Tests will begin at 2 p.m. local time on the Losail International Circuit.