Valencia MotoGP: Ducati confirm Livio Suppo departure

Ducati has confirmed team boss Livio Suppo will leave its factory team after this weekend’s final race in Valencia.

Although not yet officially confirmed, Suppo will take up a management role with Honda in 2010, as was first reported by MCN earlier today.

A key player in Ducati’s MotoGP project since its inception in 2003, the Bologna factory confirmed current test rider Vittoriano Gaureschi would replace Suppo next season.

MCN understands Suppo has been in discussions with HRC about a role for months.

“Livio has meant a great deal to Ducati and also to me personally; he has been a loyal and valuable colleague but above all a great friend,” Claudio Domenicali, General Director of Ducati.

“We are very sorry that he has decided to leave the company but, in light of his correctness, professionalism and the great contribution he has made to the growth and success of the MotoGP project and the Ducati brand, we can only offer him our very best wishes as he takes on a new professional challenge.

“This is, however, also one of those moments in which we can rethink our organisation in order to further improve, and this is what we have done in defining the 2010 team’s direction.

“The management of the Ducati Marlboro Team will be entrusted to, and reinforced by, two new managerial figures.

“Alessandro Cicognani, currently marketing manager for the Ducati Corse Division, will be responsible for the MotoGP project and alongside him, Vittoriano Guareschi, already the test rider for Ducati, will undertake the role of Team Manager, bringing to the squad a wealth of knowledge and experience that he has gained through being a professional rider and, most recently, a test rider.”