Autosport Plus

Barcelona Review: Make it Look Easy

Toby Moody returns from Barcelona full of admiration for Ducati team boss Livio Suppo, and he looks back at the secret of the Italian's success

Toby Moody Jun 13, 2007, 2:46 PM

Ducati team chief Livio Suppo's first motorcycle Grand Prix was at Shah Alam in 1996; it was my first broadcast for Eurosport that weekend, too. He was in a Benetton shirt, keeping an eye on the sponsorship of the works Honda 250cc team that was on the fringe of the works Repsol Honda team of Mick Doohan, Alex Criville and Tadayuki Okada, who was making his debut on the V-Twin 500.

We just seemed to get chatting that weekend, the common denominator being our first work race while staying in the same hotel. The Benetton bike struggled on Michelin that weekend as the Aprilia Max Biaggi domination rolled on into what would be his third 250 title come Eastern Creek at the end of the year. But the stubbly bearded Italian would always be positive. Always pushing, pushing...