Hopkins hugging rather than kicking?

Suzuki will be hoping to see John Hopkins hugging rather than kicking his GSV-R on Sunday in Turkey, after "burning a lot of midnight oil" to solve the crippling technical problems experienced in Qatar.

Hopkins resorted to giving his machine a very public kicking when it ground to a halt early in the Qatar race - marking the end of a weekend littered with frustrating technical failures. Rizla Suzuki team-mate Chris Vermeulen retired soon after and it was rumoured that Paul Denning's team had made no less than 13 engine changes over the three days, due to a cooling problem which couldn't be solved at the race track.

The Anglo-American's public display of disappointment must have made uncomfortable viewing for the Suzuki executives - but, if the extent of developments expected for this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix materialise, then the episode could have a happy ending.

"We've come to Turkey in good spirits and the team morale is positive," claimed Denning. "You can be assured that Suzuki has been burning a lot of midnight oil to come up with some answers following Qatar, both in terms of durability and performance. Looking at the parts list of what's due to arrive in Istanbul, there's a lot of new stuff!

"John is totally focused on the job in hand - to get the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R towards the front on the pack - and Chris is coming to a track that he has already raced at in a grand prix, so we will hopefully see him on the pace early on as he doesn't have the added pressure of having to learn the circuit.

"We need to get down to work straight away and get the bike back on course to what we know we can achieve. Istanbul is a great place to start as the track should suit the bike well, and the best way the whole team can respond to a weekend like Qatar is to get our heads down and achieve the best possible results," he concluded.

First free practice at Istanbul takes place on Friday morning.