Looks like Hopkins will be the next rider on the growing list of GP riders to try their hand in an F1 car. It'll be a straight swap for the day with Toro Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi, who'll be having a go on Hopkins' GSV-R.

Giacomo Agostini, Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi… with Scuderia Toro Rosso being an Italian F1 team, that just about exhausts its knowledge of Italian motor cycle racers, but are we about to add the name of grand prix star Tonio Liuzzi to that list? And apart from Phil Hill and Mario Andretti and now Scott Speed, the US of A is not exactly a home to many Formula 1 car racers, but Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s John Hopkins is going to try a taste of racing with a wheel at each corner.


On the last day of October, Hopkins and Liuzzi will be taking part in a Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Scuderia Toro Rosso “Seat Swap” at the Valencia circuit in Spain.


The Italian F1 driver will cock his leg over the saddle of John Hopkins’ Rizla Suzuki MotoGP bike just two days after the Anglo-American will have raced it at the same Spanish circuit at the final round of the MotoGP championship. Hopkins, will get the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of the Toro Rosso F1 car, sporting a Rizla-blue fire suit and an Arai car helmet painted in his distinctive Red Bull colours. Liuzzi is having a special set of leathers made for this event, as well as switching to a motorcycle specification helmet.


Like most Italians, Tonio is mad about bikes, using one to ride round the F1 race tracks prior to race weekends, as well as riding superbikes back in his native Italy, where he regularly heads out on the road on a Suzuki GSX-R750. He has also been know to indulge in the occasional track day, but don’t tell his team-boss as it is probably strictly forbidden in his contract. You can imagine what the other customers think when Liuzzi, an instantly recognisable figure in his homeland, turns up, pays a few Euros and heads out on the track with all the other amateurs!


But on Tuesday 31st October, Hopkins and Liuzzi are not going to meet one another on the track as, in the name of safety, they are not being allowed out of the pits at the same time! Just think of the insurance premiums.


“I’m looking forward to this very much,” said Tonio. “Especially as I was supposed to do it earlier but John had had an accident and it was not possible. I had some preparation riding a 750 Suzuki round Silverstone and riding at Valencia should be very interesting as I will be able to compare my times to what the ‘real’ racers did on the Sunday before.”


“I’m really excited about this,” commented Hopkins, “it’s the first time I’ve been given the chance to drive a F1 car properly and the team are telling me to give it a bit of throttle – which makes me excited but a bit nervous too! I think it will be a really interesting day, with Liuzzi on the bike and me in the car, and our respective crews having to work with different guys using their machines. It’s going to be an experience of a lifetime and I’m really grateful to Red Bull and Rizla Suzuki for making it happen. I’m really pumped up for it and can’t wait for it to happen!”

Lucky bastids the both of 'em.

i think theres a bit of differnce between a gsxr750 and gsv-r ;)

should be interesting i guess ...

Can't see Tonio hanging onto it........ for his sake i hope he stays upright:eh: :?

Sounds like he did. Note the lack of a lap time from him though. :lol:

The Formula 1 World Championship ended over a week ago and the MotoGP series finished on Sunday, so what would MotoGP star John Hopkins and F1 racer Tonio Liuzzi do for a bit of post-season fun? Why, get back on a race track of course!


Today, the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer and the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver, both of them part of the Red Bull family, took part in a special seat-swap event, riding and driving each other’s machines around the Valencia circuit that hosted the MotoGP finale on Sunday.


I’ve been looking forward to today for weeks now,” said Hopkins, who admitted his only other experience of a four wheeled race vehicle took place in a go-kart. “Ever since I had the seat fitting, this experience could not have come soon enough and today was a dream come true. At first it was a bit overwhelming, looking at all the buttons on the steering wheel, but once I understood the most important thing is to keep the heat in the tyres under braking then it all got easier. It’s easy to say you can do this but when the time actually comes, it’s quite a challenge and I spun it a couple of times. Then I began to get the hang of braking very late and on my final run I got a feeling for the car moving around underneath me. I could feel it drifting and I could sense the front end pushing coming out of the corners. I was trying my hardest and going for it without being reckless.”


Before today, Hopkins admitted his target was to get his car lap time down to what he did on his Rizla Suzuki MotoGP bike this weekend. He wasn’t messing around: 1’31.65 on two wheels and a very impressive 1.19.8 on four, which is only around five seconds off a competitive F1 driver’s time at this track!


“By the end of the run, it began to feel natural to me,” added Hopkins. “I think I’d consider racing one of these in the future. I always knew it would be easier for me to get into four wheels than for Tonio on two, but with his lack of experience I think he did real good. He popped a wheelie and got his knee down!”


So what did Liuzzi think? “It was an orgasm! It was amazingly cool! It was really great!” Did we mention Mr. Liuzzi is an excitable Italian? “I’ve always loved bikes but after today, I love them even more, because the guys who race these are unbelievable and not human. The bike is like a crazy horse and it is really difficult to keep the front end down. I was trying, but I kept something in reserve because I could feel the shadow of Franz and Gerhard (Toro Rosso team bosses Tost and Berger) telling me to be careful as I am testing in two weeks! I think you just need to take more risks than I was prepared to take today. The way you tackle the lap is very different on two wheels, as the most important thing is to have the balls to keep the throttle open. It was a fantastic adrenalin rush. The most amazing thing about the bike was the grip, as you can lean right over. Unbelievable! I would love to have a race on this bike.” And an assessment of his fellow Red Bull racer? “The Formula 1 car is a much more complicated technically to drive than the bike,” reckoned Tonio. “But once John got the hang of the car and how it handled, he was very impressive and very fast.”