Outgoing Ecstar Suzuki MotoGP team boss Davide Brivio has revealed why the team chose young gun Joan Mir over Jorge Lorenzo.

The reigning world champion had an option to go to Honda after taking his Moto3 title but instead chose the Hammamatsu path.

"We started thinking about Mir because winning 10 races and being a Moto3 champion is something that caught our attention,” said Brivio.

“At that time we had the option of signing Jorge Lorenzo. In the end we had to decide between Lorenzo and Mir.

“It was not a choice between two riders, rather it was choosing a philosophy and the direction that we wanted to take in the future: take a veteran rider like Lorenzo or develop a young talent.

“The more we got to know Joan and the more we learned about him, the more special he seemed to us.

“Joan liked Suzuki, but his representative told us there was a problem because he already had an option with Honda.

“So, I asked Joan directly: ‘Are you interested in Suzuki even though you have a Honda option? ‘If you had to choose between Suzuki and Honda, where would you go?

“And he said to me: ‘I want to go to Suzuki’. And when he told me that, I thought: ‘He’s the right guy’.”