Livio Suppo returns to MotoGP with Suzuki
After four years away from the MotoGP paddock, Livio Suppo has returned, filling the Team Manager role with Team Ecstar Suzuki.
When Davide Brivio resigned after Ecstar Suzuki won the MotoGP riders’ and teams’ world championships in 2020, the Team Manager role remained unfilled for more than a year. Shinichi Sahara took on the position in addition to his regular job as Suzuki’s Project Leader, but Team Suzuki Ecstar’s winless 2021 season arguably exposed the need for the return of a full-time Team Manager, leading to Suppo’s appointment on 23 February.
While Suppo will bring enormous experience to the role of Team Manager, Suzuki are no doubt hoping the 57-year-old Italian will also bring the same success he achieved with Ducati and Honda in MotoGP.
Suppo began his GP career in 1994 with the Benetton Honda Team in the 125cc and 250cc classes. In 1999, he joined Ducati Corse, initially as Head of Marketing with Ducat’s MotoGP campaign before moving up to the Project Leader role in 2003. The peak of Suppo’s 11-year stint with Ducati Corse came in 2007 when Casey Stoner was crowned MotoGP World Champion.
Moving to HRC in 2010, Suppo served as Team Principal for the Repsol Honda Team from 2013 and oversaw a further five MotoGP World Championships, achieved by Stoner and Marc Marquez.
Leaving HRC at the end of 2017, Suppo helped establish Thok, an electric mountain bike company. But now, after four years away from the MotoGP paddock, Suppo says it’s the perfect time to step back in.
“I am very proud to become Suzuki Ecstar’s Team Manager and happy to re-join the MotoGP Championship. Sahara-san’s proposal came at the perfect time for me. I had been busy setting up my e-bike company, but I was certainly missing the paddock and ready to come back. Racing has been my life for almost all my career and I will do my best to bring my experience to Team Suzuki Ecstar.
“It’s a difficult challenge for everybody involved, where all the small details can make the difference, I am ready to be part of the game again and give my all to be on top with Suzuki.”
