Despite Carmelo Ezpeleta having previously told Suzuki that if they wanted to return to MotoGP racing in 2014, they would have to committ to three years and Suzuki’s MotoGP project leader Satoru Terada having ruled out they would be entering any wildcard entries in 2013 to test the competitiveness of their 1000cc bike and it looks like there is a still some possibility for the manufacturer’s comeback in 2014, according to Dorna’s CEO.
In an interview with BBC Sport Ezpleta said, “They [Suzuki] are asking us to have some testing during the 2013 season and if everything goes well maybe we will see them in 2014.
Nothing is agreed yet but this is not our main issue.
We have three manufacturers at the moment in Honda, Yamaha and Ducati.
If Suzuki are in we have four, and that would be the same as Formula 1, so it is not a big problem.
The main thing is to have more competitive races.
If we can do that with more manufacturers than all the better, but having competitive bikes is the key.
” Suzuki temporarily pulled out of MotoGP at the end of 2011 due to economic difficulties, but they continued working on a new MotoGP machine that was confirmed by Nobuatsu Aoki during the Sepang test last February and the new 1000cc was photographed testing on track at Sugo.
The Japanese manufacturer also sent out feelers to Ben Spies and Cal Crutchlow during the Brno round to see if they were interested, but it seems they are now seriously in talks with Randy de Puniet to become their test rider.
