Suzuki insist Randy de Puniet still candidate for 2015 ride

Randy de Puniet is still a leading candidate for one of the two sought after factory Suzuki seats in 2015.

The Frenchman has been Suzuki’s permanent test rider for more than a year and he quit full-time racing at the end of 2013 to try and earn a Suzuki place when the Japanese factory ends its three-year self-imposed exile to return to MotoGP next season.

Suzuki’s imminent return has generated major interest in its new 1000cc project and Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone are some of big names linked with a ride.

The intense speculation though doesn’t mean de Puniet will be overlooked and new team boss Davide Brivio told MCN: “Randy is an option for 2015. We have an option to use him and he is one of the candidates but we will see how things develop.

He would be happy to continue and we are very happy about the job he is doing, so we will see how the rider market moves. Everybody is available and I think we can be an interesting option for the riders because we are a factory team and it is always nice to have that association.”