Marco Bezzecchi
Livio Suppo saw Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez win the MotoGP riders’ title during his spells in charge of the factory Ducati and Honda teams over the 2000s and 2010s.
Suppo oversaw the works Ducati squad from 2003 to 2009, as the Borgo Panigale crew rose from occasionally claiming Grand Prix wins to securing the riders’ championship with Stoner in 2007. Stoner beat Honda’s Dani Pedrosa by 125 points for Ducati’s first premier class title.
Honda capitalised on Suppo leaving Ducati and hired him in 2010, initially as their marketing and communications director before naming him their team principal in 2013. Marquez also made his MotoGP debut in 2013 and bagged the first of his now-seven MotoGP riders’ titles.
Marquez secured four MotoGP titles before Suppo left Honda at the end of 2017, with Jorge Lorenzo in 2015 the only rider to deny him the crown during that time. Marquez also scored 35 Grand Prix wins from 90 races under Suppo, while Stoner won 20 of his 49 under Suppo.
How would Marc Marquez have performed against Casey Stoner?
Livio Suppo thinks Casey Stoner had more pure talent than Marc Marquez does
Stoner sees some similarities between himself and Marquez, who the Australian believes is second-to-none when it comes to reactions and has a “phenomenal” feel for the front end. Suppo would also pick Marquez over any other rider he has worked with for a dream team.
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Suppo believes Marquez’s mentality, focus, attitude, character and hunger are “unbeatable”, which makes the Spaniard the “most complete” rider that the one-time Suzuki MotoGP boss has worked with. But when it comes to pure talent, Stoner is arguably better than Marquez.
“Definitely Marc,” Suppo told Fanpage. “Of all the riders I’ve worked with, he’s definitely the most complete.
“Casey is at the same level of talent, if not better. But Marquez’s mentality, focus, attitude, character and hunger are unbeatable. It’s no coincidence that Casey retired at 27.”
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Suppo is not the only person to have worked with Stoner and Marquez in MotoGP to believe the former was superior in certain areas. Like Suppo, Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi feels Stoner had more “natural speed” than Marquez and every other rider he has worked with.
Stoner and Marquez never raced on the same circuit, as the former retired at the end of the 2012 season and freed a bike at Honda that the latter took. The closest they came to sharing a circuit was when Honda and Suppo explored placing Marquez at a satellite team for 2012.
Marquez ultimately remained in Moto2 in 2012 and won the title, as Honda’s proposed plan to move him into MotoGP fell through after he was sidelined for over four months due to an episode of diplopia. He had double vision problems after a huge highside at Sepang in 2011.
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