MotoGP: Suzuki to race 2008 GSV-R in Malaysian MotoGP

Suzuki will steal a march on their MotoGP rivals this weekend after unveiling plans to race a new prototype factory GSV-R in Malaysia.

Test and development rider Nobuatsu Aoki has a wild card slot for Sunday’s penultimate round in Sepang, and Suzuki bosses have confirmed to MCN the Japanese rider will race next year’s V4 machine to gauge its current level at a competitive race weekend.

The new bike was spotted in public for the first time last month at a test session immediately after the Japanese MotoGP in the Twin Ring Motegi.

It features a revised chassis and an exposed exhaust system and broke cover after months of testing in Japan.

Suzuki’s GSV-R has arguably been the most improved machine on the grid in 2007, with Chris Vermeulen handing the Japanese factory its first four-stroke victory in a rain-lashed French MotoGP in Le Mans earlier this season.

The Aussie has also scored podium finishes in Donington Park, Laguna Seca and Misano, while Suzuki team-mate John Hopkins has claimed rostrum finishes in Shanghai, Brno and Misano.

Desperate to continue that return to prominence in 2008, Suzuki will get Aoki to use this weekend’s Sepang MotoGP as an extended test session.

Rizla Suzuki team boss Paul Denning told MCN: “The plan is for Nobu to ride next year’s bike this weekend so the engineers can get a lot of good information ahead of what will be a very busy winter testing schedule.”

Chris Vermeulen and new team-mate Loris Capirossi will get their first ride on the new bike immediately after the final round of the season in Valencia early next month (November).

Straight after this weekend’s Sepang clash, double American superbike champion Ben Spies will ride John Hopkins’ 2007 machine in a one-day test session.

It is the first of several planned try-outs for Spies before he makes a full-time switch to MotoGP in 2009.

Ben Spies will ride on Monday (October 22).