‘Mir’s seven podiums included a first MotoGP win’
the team’s job is to manage that in the best way. There is very good cooperation, it’s working.
“The race department may be smaller than others but this pushes us to be more creative.”
Brivio also decided on a visionary approach to rider selection, that put Suzuki ahead of the curve of MotoGP’s generational change. Suzuki’s task was enormous. Build a competitive MotoGP prototype and race team from scratch.
From V4 to inline-four
A major change came with the ditching of the V4 motor of the GSV-R (2002-2011) in favour the inline-four GSX-RR.
“The clear target of Suzuki’s engineers was to develop a bike with agile handling and strong corner speed,” Brivio said. A fast V4 compromises on agility while the inline suffers with top speed but gains in handling.”
MotoGP return: 2015/16
After a three year hiatus Suzuki entered the 2015 championship with Aleix Espargaró and top gun rookie Maverick Viñales.
Core strengths of the bike are agile handling, braking and corner speed, but top speed and engine fragility are impossible to mask. This period aligned with the introduction of unified software plus Marelli control ECU and initial struggles as Suzuki assembled inhouse electronics expertise.
It was a character building phase. A long overdue race win came for Viñales at Silverstone. However, it came too late to motivate Viñales to stay. He moved to Yamaha for 2017.
2017: the lost year Anticipation was high with a new rider line-up of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins - the latter plucked from Moto2 - but it quickly unravelled into a technical nightmare.
A wrong choice of engine spec with a change of crankshaft mass impacted the GSX-RR’s handling balance, robbing it of turning and braking precision.
The mistake was confirmed by mid-season, but rules meant engine spec couldn’t change until 2018. But there was an unplanned bonus. Focus switched to chassis refinement, engine braking and electronics to cover the engine error. Iannone salvaged a season best result of 4th at Motegi - the team boosted by the return of Shinichi Sahara as Project Leader following his stint revamping the GSX-R1000 road bike. But ultimately the 2017 engine dramas stalled ambition with zero podiums.
2018: Back on track
The tough and embarrassing engine lessons of 2017 meant the GSX-RR now had the correct motor matched with an upgraded frame. Development was taken a step further when carbon fibre inserts appeared mid-season to alter and experiment with chassis stiffness. The sweet handling Suzuki delivered nine podiums including three second places - Rins (Sepang and Valencia; Iannone (Phillip Island). Matching top speeds with V4s remained out of reach.
2019: Return to winning ways
Suzuki’s youth policy was in full swing with Rins and Mir both on carbon wrapped frames. The red alert for Suzuki’s progress came with two wins by Rins, reinforcing benchmark turning and tyre conservation. Rins was an emerging talent with his first win at COTA (Texas) and then a daring final corner swerve to nail a sensational win over Marquez at Silverstone.
2020: The biggest prize Despite the delayed start to a cramped 14 race championship, Suzuki were tipped as title threats. The focus was unchanged: balance rider and tyre friendliness by fine tuning the tricky compromise between agile handling and power. The stiffness lessons learned from carbon inserts were incorporated into an all aluminium frame with improved braking stability. Still no carbon fibre swingarm.
A power-up engine retained bottom-end response, and a seamless transition to the latest Michelin rear offered more grip from lean angle to drive traction - a boost to the GSX-RR’s race distance consistency and wide window of performance.
The six year evolution of the GSX-RR and Mir’s mix of pace, patience and breezy calmness were the platform Suzuki’s first MotoGP championship in 20 years. Mir’s seven podiums included his first MotoGP race win at Valencia 1 with the title secured at Valencia 2. From zero to hero, all on a tight budget with a suprisingly small team. The compact and creative Suzuki squad out-smarted far bigger and substantially better funded rival teams. “Because of Covid protocols factory teams were limited to 46 staff in 2020, more than enough for Suzuki,” says Brivio. “At Jerez 1 we had less than 40 at the track including the Japanese engineers.”
‘The race department may be small, but this pushes us to be more creative’