MotoGP: Kevin Schwantz: 'No direction' leaves Suzuki in 'distress'

"I think the distress in the team right now is coming from no real direction" - Kevin Schwantz.
Schwantz: 'No direction' leaves Suzuki in 'distress'

Suzuki legend Kevin Schwantz has🎃 given a cutting assessment of the factory's current situation in MotoGP.

The 1993 500cꦗc world champion described the team as in a state of 'distress' and lacking in multiple areas.

"I don't spend a lot of time in the garage, but the time I have spent there [at the Sachsenring weekend] it seems to me that the work ethic, the mentality, the focus is not there," the Texan told Speedweek.com.

"Alex [Rins] is coming back from being injured and is still trying to learn as a MotoGP rookie. So I really think Iannone ne⭕eds to be the backbone of the tꦉeam right now and he's just not been that."

Schwantz, who previously 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:suggested Ia🔥nnone 'should race go-karts' if he is not prepared to take more risks, added: "I don't understand Italian - I'm kind of glad that I don't - because sitting there listeni♍ng to Iannone and his crew chief... I just don't see th💝e drive. I don't see the motivation. I don't see the intensity.

"I see a relaxed kind of, 'I can't d🍃o anything about this' attitude. When things are bad, the good guys work harder. They don't step back and want to take it 𓃲easy."

Schwantz traced Iannone's drop in form to Rins' injury in Aust♋in, suggesting the Italian's attitude changed once his team-mate was out of action, while highlighting inconsistent sector times🎐 in practice.

"One lap a 22.5 the next a 28, the next 22.6, theജ next a 24. No real consistency and lots of in and outs. You can't🍃 make adjustments based on in and out laps. Especially when we are kind of at a loss for direction right now.

"The bike in testing [was running towards the front], all the way up into the first grand prix where Iannone was challenging for a podium and ran into the back of Marquez. Then in Argentina he jum𒊎ped the start, but was in the top five there too.

"It seems like from there, after Rins gets hurt, the push is not... in MotoGP or racing of any kind, the ultimate perso﷽n you want to beat is the guy at the front. But the one guy you really can't stand to get beat by is your team-mate. But that shouldn't be your m💎otivation and inspiration."

In S🐼chwantz's opinion, Suzuki team management should also have reacted to t👍he situation sooner.

"This needed to be resolved before it ever got to this situation, we're at the halfway point of the season and have scored how many points? Hardly any! I think the guys in charge🌜 of the team should have got a feel for this a long time ago."

Suzuki scored 89 constructors' points - awarded for the highest finishing rider, by manufacturer, in each🎉 race - at the midway stage of last season. This year the⛄y have 35 points, with Iannone 16th in the riders' world championship.

The team's best race fi🍸nish is seventh for Iannone in Austin. At the same time last year they had claimed nine top-six results with Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro, including a podium.

In Iannone's defence, race accidents at Jerez and Sachsenring prove he has taken the GSX-RR beyond its limit at times since Austin. The Italian has had seven falls in total this seasonꦫ.

One measure Schwantz wouldಌ like to see is a return to front-line duty for the vastly experienced and respected Tom O'Kane, crew chief to Aleix Espargaro in 2015 and 2016, but moved after Iannone's arr🙈ival with Marco Rigamonti.

"Tom being b𒁏rought back in would be a huge asset," he said.

Told that KTM are now rumoured to be interested in O'Ka༒ne, the Texan quipped: "KTM knows good people when they seꦜe them."

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