Suzuki boss Davide Brivio says the Hamamatsu factory has learned from its “difficulties”, as it strives to make gains after its lacklustre 2017 effort.
After tallying up three podiums and its first win in almost a decade with Maverick Vinales in 2016, expectations were high for Suzuki ahead of last year, having signed race winner Andrea Iannone to its ranks alongside rookie Alex Rins.
However, the team went in the wrong direction with its new engine and spent much of the year trying to manage this within the limitation of the in-season development ban imposed on it after its successful 2016 campaign.
On top of this, Rins missed five races through injury, while Iannone struggled to adapt from the vastly different Ducati to the GSX-RR; the end result was a distant fourth in the manufacturers' title.
Brivio believes Suzuki has grown stronger as a team as a result of its difficult 2017 campaign and has been able to improve the bike over the winter.
“Of course, we are really looking forward to this year,” Brivio said during Suzuki's 2018 launch event at the Sepang International Circuit.
“We had kind of a difficult season in 2017, but as I said already to all our guys, all our team, 2017 has somehow been useful and we want to take the good from the difficulties.
“I think we learned a lot, and I think it was a good opportunity to further improve the bike and stick together as a team.
“All the Suzuki engineers in the factory and the team members have been working relentlessly during the winter, and we hope we have found a good basis to restart in a good way.
“The most important thing is that we are starting again and we were able to harvest a lot of good experience from last season when we struggled so much, especially during the first three quarters of the championship.
“We have learned from the difficulties and the group has stayed strong all the time despite the disappointing results.”
Coming on strong towards the end of last season, Iannone revealed that he has changed his approach for 2018, and reckons the new GSX-RR suits his riding style, in the wake of private running since November's group gathering in Valencia.
“This season my approach to the world championship is a bit different to the one I had a year ago,” said the Italian.
“I already have experience of working with Suzuki, I know my team well, and honestly speaking I'm hungry to test the new bike.
“I think this bike suits my riding style pretty well, and I'm very motivated for the coming season.”
Iannone and team-mate Rins, as well as test rider Sylvain Guintoli, will take to the Sepang Circuit on Sunday for the opening day of pre-season testing.
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