Suzuki has officially revealed its title sponsor and the race bike’s livery for the 2015 season of MotoGP. After taking a three-year hiatus from the premier class motorcycle racing championship, the Japanese manufacturer will be returning to MotoGP as ‘Team Suzuki Ecstar’, with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales riding the new GSX-RR race bike.
As opposed to its predecessor, the new Suzuki GSX-RR is powered by an inline four-cylinder engine, though reliability issues resulted in the team having a difficult time during pre-season testing in Valencia. However, improvement in the electronics package saw Espargaro and Vinales finish in 10th and 14th position at the second test in Malaysia.
Commenting on their return to MotoGP, Mr Eiji Mochizuki, executive general manager, Suzuki said, “Finally, Suzuki will make a comeback to the MotoGP, the world’s top motorcycle racing series. Through high-level competition, we will sharpen up our technologies, and aggressively feed them back to our production models and interact with Suzuki customers all over the world. Suzuki will challenge to improve satisfaction of customers all over the world to a higher level, through racing and our products.”