MotoGP: Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi gave a hint that he may be continuing with the team next year, when he stated that he is looking forward to working with new signing Álvaro Bautista

MotoGP Press Release

With the news of Álvaro Bautista’s signing by Rizla Suzuki team for 2010 confirmed on Sunday the next big question surrounding the team is, ‘who will he be riding with?’

Current riders Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen both see their Suzuki contracts run out at the end of this season and the team is yet to make any announcement about who will partner new boy Bautista in the box next season.

However, Capirossi gave a big hint of how things could work out when he said on Monday, “I think the team have made a great choice to pick Álvaro because he is a very strong rider and I believe he will be very comfortable in the team. Everyone here is very relaxed and I am happy to be able to work with him.”

An official announcement on the situation is expected in the coming weeks, but for the time being Capirossi’s job is to improve the competitiveness of the Suzuki race package - and he did a good job on Sunday and Monday in the Czech Republic.

With a new chassis and a new engine incorporated into the GSV-R this weekend Capirossi produced a solid fifth place in the Brno race and then ended up fourth on the test timesheet. He commented, “We were quite satisfied with how things went in the test. We rode all through the morning, trying settings and working on the new chassis, which seems to be better. In the afternoon we also did a few laps in the rain to try a few more things and that also went quite well.”