Decision close on Suzuki’s MotoGP future

A decision on whether Suzuki will remain in the MotoGP world championship next season is expected during this weekend’s Sepang race in Malaysia.

Senior management figures met in Japan last Friday during the Australian Grand Prix and after further discussions, the British-based squad is hopeful that Suzuki will make its future strategy clearer this weekend.

Suzuki cut its involvement in MotoGP in 2011 to just one bike and ever since rumours have persisted that the squad would completely withdraw at the end of the season.

And even if Suzuki does decide to race on, it will start the new 1000cc era in 2012 racing its current 800cc GSV-R machine because of delays in development of the new machine.

Suzuki Paul Denning told MCN: “The position after Motegi is definitely more positive than it was before but the process has not reached a conclusion yet. The race department are absolutely aware of the urgency and they are doing their best to get things pushed through as quickly as they possibly can. Suzuki internally is working together to balance all the pros and cons and the right people are trying to do the right thing for the brand.”

Alvaro Bautista has already let a Tech 3 Yamaha opportunity pass and he is stalling on giving LCR Honda a final answer while he waits for Suzuki to clarify its position.

And Denning added: “I think in his heart he would still rather be a factory rider for Suzuki and do a two-year project with us. But he can’t afford to let an opportunity die, and if we can’t give him something really quickly then he may have to commit to that. It would be almost as disappointing for Suzuki to give us the green light for next year and not be able to agree with Alvaro than if Suzuki opted to withdraw.”