Suzuki looking ahead to the 2010 season

The 2009 season is certainly not one that the Alstare Suzuki Brux team will remember with any particular relish. Max Neukirchner's nasty crash at Monza deprived Francis Batta's team of its number 1 rider and, at least until the summer break, any chance of scoring some important results.

Giacomo Guidotti, the team's technical director, has been analyzing the season with WorldSBK.com and he confirmed the impression that Suzuki is already looking ahead to the 2010 championship season.

First of all, can you update us on Max Neukirchner's condition? Is it possible he will return at Brno at the end of July?

"The most important thing is that Max makes a perfect recovery because it was a really bad crash. His rehabilitation is continuing rapidly but I still can't say if he will be back at Brno. We're not going to put him under any pressure, on the contrary we'll tell him not to try and speed things up because it's clear his season is virtually over. He will be present at Misano, where he'll be looked at by the Clinica Mobile doctors and then a decision will be taken."

It seems that Max's absence has been felt really hard?

"Yes, to all intents and purposes we lost our number 1 rider, in a season in which we started with a new bike and his indications for its development were very important. But that's racing and now we're trying hard not to throw away the rest of the season by working already for 2010".

What does that mean in practice?

"That we are working in close contact with Suzuki in Japan, where they are carrying out various tests to try and improve the weak points of the bike that emerged this year. Basically this means improve traction on exit to curves and find a way to get the best out of Pirelli's medium-hard tyres. Regarding the latter, we're starting to try out some modifications to the suspension but also to the electronics and engine power delivery. The aim is to be able to make an appraisal of the changes on the track in the final part of this season".

Did you expect something more from Fonsi Nieto?

"Not in South Africa seeing as he had just returned after a few months lay-off and didn't know either the bike or the track. Maybe we expected a bit more at Miller and he wasn't happy with his performance either. The fact is that last year there was less competition, today if you are one second down you run the risk of finding yourself almost at the back of the field. With Fonsi we're not carrying out any type of development, we're just trying to help him to make sure that he can do as well as possible in the one or two rounds remaining".