Under the management of Davide Brivio, Spanish rider Joan Mir captured Suzuki’s sixth premier class title with the 2020 MotoGP Championship. Unfortunately, Brivio didn’t stick around long after the celebrations, as the long-time team manager left for greener pastures as the Racing Director for the Alpine F1 Team.
With Brivio’s abrupt departure, Suzuki was forced to go without a Team Manager throughout the 2021 season. During that time, Project Leader Shinichi Sahara created a management committee, with Sahara himself acting as the interim Team Manager while also juggling his Project Leader duties. It’s safe to say that both Suzuki and Sahara are relieved to hire MotoGP veteran Livio Suppo to assume the role in the 2022 season.
“He understands how teams work and that team atmospheres are important when it comes to being competitive consistently during a season,” explained Sahara. “Some of our crew members already have experience of working with him, and I’ve known him for a long time because he’s been in the paddock for many years. We’ve already seen promising signs and improvements in our performance during winter testing, and I believe Livio joining us will bolster our team further and we will become even stronger.”
Suppo started his Grand Prix career with the 125cc and 250cc Benetton Honda Team. From there, he joined the Ducati Team as a Project Leader for 11 seasons, helping Casey Stoner win Ducati’s lone MotoGP Rider’s Championship. In 2010, Suppo transitioned to the Repsol Honda team as a Marketing Director before taking over the Team Principal role in 2013. With four more rider’s titles to his credit (courtesy of Marc Marquez), Suppo left MotoGP to pursue his own endeavors at the end of the 2017 season.
After four years spent working on an e-bike company, Suppo is back in the MotoGP paddock.
“I am very proud to become Suzuki Ecstar’s Team Manager and happy to re-join the MotoGP Championship after four years,” admitted Suppo. “I also feel it will be a great experience to start working with two talented riders like Joan Mir and Alex Rins, both capable of fighting for the top in MotoGP.”