Spies to replace injured Loris Capirossi
Suzuki is expected to officially announce the deal later this week, but Spies will replace Capirossi, with MCN sources today confirming the 35-year-old would definitely miss the British GP.
The veteran Italian had further medical checks on the broken right hand today that he injured during last Sunday's Catalunya GP when Honda rookie Alex de Angelis wiped him out.
Suzuki had expected to confirm Japanese test rider Nobuatsu Aoki for Capirossi's factory GSV-R ride. In Aoki's testing contract, it says he is the number one replacement should Capirossi or Chris Vermeulen get injured, and he is already in Europe having tested at Catalunya on earlier this week.
But with Spies due to make his MotoGP debut in Laguna Seca next month, Suzuki believe it is an ideal opportunity to draft him in earlier
06/11/08 The finger break suffered by Loris Capirossi at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya is likely to rule the Italian out of the bwin.com British Grand Prix –and possibly the A-Style TT Assen- his Rizla Suzuki Team Manager Paul Denning has admitted.
Capirossi picked up the injury in a collision with Alex de Angelis during the Barcelona race, and will today (Wednesday) see a specialist in Monaco to assess his condition.
“Loris´ break is quite a complicated one; it’s a dislocated fracture of his fifth right metacarpus, which is used a lot in braking. We will wait for the verdict when he sees the specialist, but at the moment it is looking unlikely that he will ride at Donington and perhaps Assen", said Denning at the post-race test in Barcelona.
Test rider Nobuatsu Aoki rode Capirossi´s GSV-R at the two day stay in Catalunya, but the possibility of he, future Rizla Suzuki wild card Ben Spies or indeed any other rider standing in for the veteran Italian will not be discussed until further details are known about Capirossi´s condition.
“The plan is to run two riders in Donington and Assen, but Rizla Suzuki cannot comment as to who those would be at the moment", stated Denning.