With 90 days of the official start of the 2022 season with the Qatar Grand Prix, the Suzuki team has yet to comment on who will occupy the position of team manager, vacant since the departure of Davide Brivio announced at the beginning of January this year.
The team realized that the self-management formula imposed after the Italian executive’s departure did not work as expected, and they are determined to fill the position in 2022.
One of the people who had attracted the most interest from the Hamamatsu team management for the position was Francesco Guidotti, until this year Pramac Ducati team manager. However, the Italian was announced earlier this week as the new head of the KTM MotoGP team.
Another highly rated option was former Dutch rider Wilco Zeelenberg, linked in recent years to Yamaha and, more recently, to the reformed satellite RFN Racing Team, with whom he renewed his contract until the end of 2022, extending his responsibility.
Although Suzuki’s CEO in MotoGP Shinichi Sahara ruled out during the Valencia Grand Prix that Davide Brivio could leave Alpine at the end of the season to return to the team he won the double crown with in 2020, the possibility is not completely closed. .
Alpine F1’s current race director has a contract with the French team next season. However, the team’s chief executive, Laurent Rossi, said in early November that no one on that team was insured of his job. “As for the future, Davide, like everyone else in the team, will evolve into the organization I decide, following the changes I will decide at the end of the season. He is no different from the rest of the staff,” said Alpine CEO. in conversation with Motorsport.com.
If Brivio does not enter Alpine’s plans for 2022, he could be released and thus become a real option to return to the position of team manager at Suzuki, although there is some disparity of opinion in the Hamamatsu factory on this possibility.
It seems not all executives in Japan would welcome Brivio’s return after he abruptly left the team eleven months ago. This could complicate a possible move to bring the 57-year-old executive back. In any case, at least we should wait until the end of the F1 season, December 12, to know its future.
Suzuki team manager options are limited
Two months into the 2022 preseason in Sepang on February 5-6, Suzuki’s options for the team manager position are drastically reduced, and the team has received a clear warning from 2020 champion Joan Mir, who said clearly: “The name of the new team manager will count in my renewal”, whose negotiations have not started despite his contract expiring at the end of next year.
Among the possible candidates for the position, the name was also made of Livio Suppo, Ducati team manager between 2003 and 2009, and Honda, from where he was sacked at the end of 2017 without having held any position related to MotoGP since then. .
Another profile that might be suitable is that of Petonas-Yamaha’s sporting director until this year, Johan Stigefelt, who will not stay with the refounded RFN Racing Team in 2022. The 45-year-old former Swedish rider has a long career, first in SBK. as team manager, and since 2012 in the MotoGP paddock, where he spent time in Moto3 before joining Razlan Razali’s team in 2015 and expanding the Malaysian team to the premier class as sporting director.
Sylvain Guintoli, Suzuki test rider since 2017, is another option considered by Japan, although the 39-year-old initially ruled out hanging up his racing suit to take on the management role in the Japanese manufacturer’s MotoGP facility.
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