A couple of news bits concerning Suzuki and their technical as well as professional future.

There will be one day of testing immediately after the Czech Grand Prix at Brno this weekend and Suzuki has brought quite a few new parts in order to improve their obvious current disadvantages on track. In fact, they have so much stuff to test that team boss Paul Denning already fears that the track time won’t be enough for them to get all the work done in only one day.

“We will bring so many new parts to Brno that we would really need more than one day. I assume the track time will be from 9 in the morning to 6 PM and during that time we won’t leave a minute unused, hoping that we can get through our whole task list. We definitely need to take a step forward. For my taste the Brno circuit is the wrong place to test at, because the flowing line is comparable to the Catalunya circuit. However, our bike shouldn’t go too bad there. And normally the temperatures are pretty high at this time of year as well.” Concerning the new parts that are up for testing, Denning explained: “We have important changes to test for the aerodynamics package. Those affect not only the speed, but also the handling when entering the curves. Additionally we have tests planned for the chassis, the swingarm and the ECU where we want to sort out the best parts.”

Looking further into the future, Denning revealed during the Suzuki anniversary celebration at Brands Hatch last weekend that Suzuki’s participation in the MotoGP championship for 2011 is definitely secured. Alvaro will be starting his second year with the team and Rizla seems almost certain to be the title sponsor again. With the possibility of Toni Elias joining the team in the coming season [see various Silly Season reports on that, we recommend the excellent summary on MotoMatters] it would also be desirable for Suzuki to get a big Spanish sponsor on board as well, supporting the potential All-Spanish lineup and giving them a few more opportunities than with only the reportedly meager funding coming from Rizla.

However, it is still not clear whether we will still see Suzuki in the championship in 2012 when the new rules come into effect. The reports are a bit contradicting on that matter. On the one hand the development department at Suzuki is apparently already working on the prototype for 2012, on the other hand the team itself didn’t get any official confirmation yet about the continued participation in the championship beyond 2011.

Source: Motorsport Aktuell

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It’s now been officially announced that the Hungarian GP will be cancelled once again this year. Instead the MotoGP circus will race at the new Motorland Aragon circuit at the same date.

The official press release notes that the GP was “cancelled due to the fact that the construction work on the Balatonring circuit cannot be completed on time”.
As we’ve reported earlier, the underlying problem was the withdrawal of any financing through the Hungarian development bank last week, effectively leaving the project high and dry. Consequently the FIM fell back on to the previously announced reserve circuit in Spain.

Earlier this month there were some news coming out of Hungary which indicated some severe troubles for the future of the new Balatonring MotoGP circuit. A German motorsport magazine worried that there’s again a good chance that the Hungarian MotoGP will again be cancelled like it already was last season.

According to the article there are a lot of doubts voiced by experts and government representatives, mainly about the question whether the financing by the government is profitable and legal. The investors even believe mafia-like powers to be at work and accused one company and a party of corruption.
The newspaper Pester Lloyd wrote that Gordon Bajnai, the Hungarian prime minister, has instructed the minister of finance to make an in-house study on benefit and risk of financing the circuit public.
Even though they agreed to stand surety of about 75 Mil. Euros last year, none of the contracts had been signed yet because of doubts about the probity of the project.

The study in question apparently shows that the government financing of the track would be uneconomic, too risky and illegal. There are no guarantees of tax paybacks and the maintenance and usage of the track will need more subventions than make profit in the long run.

Bence Janos Kovacs, who is the boss of the investor group, believes in a plot which involves political and mafia-like blackmail. At a press conference he presumed that local estate companies and a company that is involved in motorsport are responsible for this. They allegedly have demanded a payment over 100.000 Euros from him.

A few days after this article was published however, several English-speaking MotoGP websites wrote that the Hungarian round was still very likely to happen. According to Dorna and IRTA officials the amount of money already spent on the Balatonring project indicates that everything would go ahead as planned as “it would be stupid to stop now”.

But in the meantime, more worrying news emerge from Hungary. This Thursday the government coordinator of the Balatonring project, Tamás Suchmann, receded from his office and yesterday it was made public that the Hungarian development bank will indeed NOT finance the project because of a lack of guarantees. With no secure financing to actually build the circuit which is still practically non-existent, it remains to be seen if there’ll be a Hungarian MotoGP round this year or not.

In any case, to prevent a similar situation as last season with one round cancelled, there’s already been a reserve circuit assigned with the Motorland Aragon. So we will see whether we will have this year’s Round 14 in Hungary or in Spain.

Sources: Motorsport-Magazin.com 1, Motorsport-Magazin.com 2, MCN

Rizla Suzuki has joined forces with American motorsport design icon Troy Lee in a partnership that will see the team’s image inspired by his amazing Southern California design studio.

Livery direct from Troy Lee and his fantastic team of designers will feature throughout the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP squad, from the 2010 Suzuki GSV-R itself through to the race suits that Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista will be wearing as they battle with the world’s greatest racers around the globe in this season’s 18-race championship. Troy Lee Designs will also create the livery for the team’s pit-box and hospitality unit, as well as the team clothing and merchandise ranges.

Troy Lee has been customising helmets ‘For the World’s Fastest Racers’ since 1981. The relentless commitment to creating products that exceed the cutting edge in style, design and quality has given Troy Lee Designs the reputation as an innovator in many different racing fields. The company has grown over the past three decades to include a product line ranging from high-performance helmets to a complete line of Motocross racing gear and casual wear. With an amazing team of racers from the four-wheeled world of Indycar, Sportscars, NASCAR and World Rally, to the two-wheeled racers of Motocross, Supermoto, Enduro, Freestyle, Dirt Track and Road Racing, and to the cycling world of Mountain Biking, Free Riding to BMX, Troy Lee has enjoyed working with the best in the world and now he takes it one step further by joining forces with Suzuki’s Factory MotoGP team.

Rizla Suzuki is in action at Sepang in Malaysia this week, with the team’s 2010 ‘Troy Lee Designs’ inspired livery being launched at the Qatar test next month.

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Troy Lee Designs – and Troy himself – are iconic in the world of motorsport and Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is honoured to be able to introduce them to the world of MotoGP. To have Troy and his team responsible for the design process is great and – as you can imagine – the guys in our team are also delighted to be using a range of Troy Lee Designs equipment as well. There will be some nice “Troy Lee inspired” surprises during 2010 – and we’ll be really happy if we can go as fast as we’ll look!”

Troy Lee – CEO Troy Lee Designs
“We are really excited to join in this partnership with Rizla Suzuki. It has been a dream of mine to be a part of MotoGP and provide my artistic skills to some of the world’s fastest road racers. I’m looking forward to a great year of racing from this team and a strong partnership – we at Troy Lee Designs appreciate the fact that every day the racers get out there and put it all on the line, and Capirossi and Bautista look like two guys who always give it everything.”

If you’ve followed the silly season shenanigans closely in the off season, you will know that Blusens Aprilia 125cc refugee, Scott Redding, is currently without a ride for 2010, having been linked to a few fruitless talks with various Moto2 teams. Scott certainly has the talent to excel in the Moto2 class, but is currently suffering with a lack of sponsorship deals to land him a Moto2 ride.

In a gesture of solidarity with the Scott Redding Supporters Club, we’d like to take this opportunity to promote the new “Scott Redding 2010″ website, which aims to push publicity and interaction with the cause way beyond its core Facebook presence. With the “Scott Redding 2010” project one of our sister sites, MotoGPBrits.com delivered a website for the Scott Redding Supporters Club to help focus attention on their mission outside of the Facebook environment where it had largely operated before. Whilst over 300 million people use Facebook, over 6.7 billion people use the internet as a whole so it makes sense to ensure that the campaign to try and secure Scott a Moto2 ride for the 2010 MotoGP season reached as broad an audience as possible.

The site will serve as an ongoing news magazine to cover events and fundraising activities run by the Supporters Club, to ensure as many internet users as possible find out about the cause and to enable easy access to instant online donation mechanisms.
We believe it’s a brilliant cause, and hopefully one that will engage all those many potential fans and supporters who don’t use Facebook.

Please share the news and the link, and ideally make a donation too if you can – Scott’s a superb rider and *anything* that can be done to move his career forward is a good cause.

Today it’s been officially announced that the MotoGP bikes will make another switch in capacity in 2012, this time back up to 1000cc. This announcement is particularly interesting for next year’s class Rookies, including Alvaro, who will only have two years on the current machinery before another change is due. Since Alvaro has a two-year contract this also means for him that the Suzuki will stay the only 800cc bike he gets to ride in competition.

Following talks between MotoGP’s governing body the FIM, series rights holder Dorna Sports and the MSMA, the Commission agreed to change the maximum engine capacity of the MotoGP class to 1000cc for the 2012 season. A limit of 4 cylinders will also be introduced, with a maximum cylinder bore measurement of 81 mm.

Mr Ippolito said: “The main changes we have decided on are new rules for the MotoGP class. We will have four cylinder engines, 4-stroke of course, with a 1000cc maximum, and the bore of the cylinders will be 81mm. This base will give all the manufacturers the opportunity to start work. At the beginning of next year we will produce the new rules in a more complete format, but that is the basis; 2012 will be the year of a new era of MotoGP.”

Mr Ezpeleta stated: “It was a very important meeting to decide the future of the MotoGP class. From 2012 the bikes will have an engine capacity of up to 1000cc, have up to four cylinders and the maximum bore will be 81mm. It’s a very important measurement because with this we can have all the characteristics of the engine. This has been approved and between now and the start of the 2010 season we will have another two meetings to define the rest of the specifications for this new class.”

Source: motogp.com

The Permanent Bureau of the Grand Prix Commission decided today that there will be two days of extra testing for next year’s MotoGP Rookies, held in the middle of November at the Estoril circuit in Portugal.

With testing and practice cut short due to financial reasons next year’s Rookies face a bigger challenge than before to adapt to the new class, so a couple of factories and teams fought for some extra test days for their Rookies to give them the best preparation possible for their first season.
After the proposal initially looked to be denied with a lot of opposition coming from various important figures in the paddock, the final decision to grant two additional days of testing came as a surprise for many.

As Suzuki has been one of the factories trying to grant extra testing for their Rookie – Alvaro – he will be certain to be at this test in Estoril, along with Suzuki test rider Nobuatsu Aoki. It remains to be seen if all the Rookies will be showing up though as for example Herve Poncharal – team manager of Tech 3 Yamaha and Rookie Ben Spies – was very much against this proposal and this could mean that Spies will not be able to profit from the extra track time. Although in contrast to most Rookies he’s already out on the bike this weekend in Valencia to get his first experiences with the new bike.

Journalists and fans alike were expecting an early announcement this weekend about Alvaro’s future and it looked much like the Suzuki confirmation was inevitable.
However, at the moment it seems like we all have to wait a little longer for an official statement on Alvaro’s move to MotoGP.

Jorge Martinez has announced before the weekend that he would like to confirm his rider for the Aspar Ducati either on Thursday or on Friday morning. Since it’s now already past that, it might be a sign for the decision not being as secure at the moment as many journalists make them out to be. Alvaro’s management did not comment on the matter and denied that any signings can already be announced.

Asked about it on Thursday, Alvaro himself gave the following statement:

“The same people who are saying that already it is all done, extend the decision in the end. There is no foundation on which these reports are based; things are like in the previous race and everything that has been said is just assumptions. I have thought about it these days, because it is a very important decision in my career and it is necessary to have it very clear. I have circled my decision and we are close, but at the moment I am going to focus on the race, it is Thursday and this is what matters now. Afterwards there could be some news, but after, not before or during. At the moment it is put on hold. I have thought well about the offers we have and more or less we have found a way. When we finish the weekend we will take this subject up again and we will see if we can decide”

A big tip-off however might already come before that. It is strongly rumoured that Hector Barbera has already signed a one-year contract with the new Aspar Ducati team and there might still be an announcement on that later today. If this proves to be true, then this would almost equal a confirmation for Alvaro to sign with Suzuki.

We will keep you updated.

Update: Hector Barbera today commented on the matter, saying that nothing is fixed yet and that he wants to focus on the race this weekend. So it seems like we’ll definitely have to wait until after the race on Sunday.

MotoGPMatters reports on the question of whether Alvaro will ride with Aspar in MotoGP next season as coming to a head this weekend at Brno, citing stories from the likes of Marca and GPOne that suggest Bati signed a pre-contract of some kind with Suzuki in the middle of 2008, and that a ride on the vacant Ducati seat in Aspar’s new MotoGP team is by no means a certainty.

Says David Emmett:
Aspar has a problem. Alvaro Bautista has already signed a pre-contract with Suzuki last summer, according to the reports, and is not inclined to pay the penalty which breaking that commitment would involve. As a result, Bautista is increasingly leaning towards finalizing a deal with Suzuki to ride for the Rizla squad for 2010. His choice is also influenced by the fact that he will be able to go straight to a factory team, Suzuki having received a dispensation from the rookie rule which forces new entrants to sign with satellite squads.
Up against this, Aspar can offer a contract directly with Ducati, but riding in the Aspar team. Bautista would be assured of strong support from Ducati Corse, and the option of moving up to the factory squad should his results be good enough. Of course, with so many riders struggling to tame the Desmosedici, Bautista may not want to risk that option, and the Spaniard has in the past flat out refused to ride the Ducati.

The various reports suggest that there will be emergency meetings in the Brno paddock with Aspar and Alvaro’s management to try and nail the matter – and that whatever the outcome, Jorge Martinez will name his rider this weeked, probably on Thursday or Friday.

Original source: MotoGPMatters