'Nobody can understand Danny Kent decision'

Team boss Stefan Kiefer has spoken of his surprise at Danny Kent's decision to leave his team before the third Moto2 race of the season in Austin, Texas and reiterated his belief that the Englishman can not rely on talent alone to succeed.

With frustrations rising during the Grand Prix of Argentina and free practice and qualifying in Texas, Kent decided to walk away from the team with whom he won the 2015 Moto3 world title after warm-up at the Circuit of the Americas.

It was on Sunday morning that Kent made his feelings on the competitiveness of the Suter chassis known, an opinion that was somewhat undermined by team-mate Dominique Aegerter's fifth place that Sunday.

"Honestly I'm as surprised as you. We didn't expect it," said Kiefer, speaking to Crash.net at Jerez. "There was no fight or something. We were really, really surprised when he told us first after the qualifying that he didn't want to make the race.

"We were able to convince him to do the warm-up. After the warm-up again he went into the office, telling us nothing, that the bike is more or less s**t. Finally, one and half hours before the race his management told us that he would not race. So we were really surprised and didn't expect this.

"For him, the bike was good from the start of the season. He said the bike was better than the Kalex. The lap time was good. In Qatar it wasn't so bad until the second half of the race when he went back, but OK. At the end, we didn't expect it.

"But it was his decision and we have to respect it. I don't know whether it was the right decision for him for the future but he did this. For sure, it's not the bike because as you see in practice Domi [Aegerter] was sixth, Sandro Cortese was ninth and [Marcel] Schrotter was eleventh. So there were three Suter bikes in the top eleven.

"Danny said, 'OK, but you will see in the race that the bike will not be good. It will not be in the front.' Luckily Domi did a really good race for our team. He was really close to fourth, just a few seconds behind Marquez.

"OK, that's what I have to say. Nobody can understand in the surroundings around him, not even his family, who were in Austin. They said sorry to us. They were also really unhappy with this decision."

It is believed Kent was not only unhappy with the overall performance of the Suter chassis at the beginning of the season, he also believed the Swiss manufacturer would provide on-track support during each race weekend.

When there was no support present at the overseas races in Argentina and Texas Kent became increasingly frustrated. Still, according the Kiefer, this should not have been an integral factor in him walking away from the squad.

Responding to this, Kiefer said, "OK, there was not an overseer but nevertheless it doesn't matter. See Dominique Aegerter in fifth position, really close to fourth position. What should I say? It makes no sense to think like this.

"You have to be professional and act like a professional. You have your package. Suter is here [Jerez]. Suter was at the tests. OK, Suter was not at the overseas race - not in Austin, not in Argentina - but I think we were able to make good performances there.

"[Before Austin] The only sign [he was unhappy] was the first time maybe - I don't want to go into it too much - but [from the start] he said the Suter is a better bike.

"After the crash in Argentina he came in, was a little bit angry, and said, 'Now I know the Suter is not a better bike than the Kalex.' Looking behind, that was the first sign. But everything was working OK."

It led Kiefer to conclude that the Englishman cannot rely on his wealth of talent to compete at the front of the Moto2 class.

"We were with Danny for two-and-a-half years and we liked him a lot as a person, and as a rider. We believed in him. That's why we gave him another chance," said Kiefer.

"That other chance was to be with us in 2017 because for me he is a rider that is a big, big talent. But, as I said, that is not enough in Moto2. Talent is not enough. You have to live like [you are] in MotoGP. You have to be professional. That's around the clock. That's day-by-day."

The Englishman has since secured a day of testing aboard Aki Ajo's Red Bull KTM Moto3 machine at Jerez, before a wildcard appearance in the junior class at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

Meanwhile, Kiefer has yet to find a full-time replacement for the Englishman, and hopes to come to a final decision in the week after the Spanish Grand Prix.