Capirossi thrilled with Suzuki effort

After Kawasaki pulled out of MotoGP, there were suggestions that Suzuki might follow suit - or at least have to significantly trim their budget.

But having gone quickest in testing at Sepang on Thursday and then taken second place behind Casey Stoner's Ducati today, Capirossi said that as far as he was concerned, Suzuki were still putting maximum effort and resources into their MotoGP team.

"I don't know about the crisis," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "All I know is that after the tests in Australia in November I made plenty of requests to Suzuki, and they granted practically all of them.

"They've listened to me and have realised what I was asking for. The bike is now small the way I like it."

The Italian added he still had some concerns about the latest Suzuki engine, but was confident that the team could close the power gap.

"It's certainly better than the old one as far as power curve and smoothness are concerned, but we lack top speed," said Capirossi.

"We still need to improve compared to the best, but we are on the right path. I'm certainly not pulling back."