Suzuki boss’ disappointment at Phillip Island disaster
Added on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Suzuki boss’ disappointment at Phillip Island disaster
Rizla Suzuki boss Paul Denning admitted that he was happy to see the back of Phillip Island after a disastrous weekend at the Australian Grand Prix.
Suzuki became the first team to be hit with a penalty under new engine restrictions that limit teams to just five engines for the final seven races of the season, resulting in rider Loris Capirossi being shunted to the back of the grid on Sunday and Suzuki being hit with a 10-point penalty in the constructor’s championship.
Capirossi did manage to work his way up from 17th to 12th as he crossed the finish line but team manager Paul Denning revealed that the weekend was one to forget for all involved with the team.
“There’s nothing positive to be said about the performance here today and frankly speaking we only inherited 11th and 12th through the misfortune of others,” said Denning.
“I’d like to thank both the riders for keeping their heads down and trying as hard as they did in such difficult circumstances.
“The trip to Sepang can’t come quickly enough and we’ll be going there with an upbeat attitude to get things back in the right direction as quickly as possible.”
Capirossi was also keen to forget the weekend and move on to Sepang for the penultimate round of the championship.
“It’s easy to say that today has been tough, but really we have struggled all weekend and never found the best solution,” said the Italian. “We also had an engine problem in the warm-up and that forced us to start on the back of the grid, but that was no big problem.
“My start was not too bad but I just didn’t have any feeling in the bike in the first five or six laps, so that was a nightmare for me. I caught up with Chris and we had a bit of a battle, but I couldn’t get past him.
“Overall this race track is very difficult for us and I think we need to forget this weekend because we tried as hard as we could and got nothing from it. I hope we will have a better weekend in Sepang because we really need a good result, but we also need to fix why things have been so bad here.”
