In a note that took more than a week to arrive, the Japanese manufacturer Suzuki confirmed the news advanced by Motorsport.com on Monday of last week, that is, its firm and irrevocable decision to leave the MotoGP World Championship at the end of this season. .
At first, Suzuki planned to make the news official last Tuesday, one day after having informed all the members of the structure displaced to Jerez, that they should start looking for work with a view to 2023. However, the reply de Dorna , that same Tuesday, in which the promoter of the championship warned of the validity of the binding contract until 2026 and that, consequently, it prevented it from being deleted “unilaterally”, he left the communication on pause. In the run-up to the French Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend at Le Mans , the Hamamatsu manufacturer confirmed its intention to say goodbye once the last stop on the calendar is over, in Valencia, in November.
“Suzuki is currently in discussions with Dorna about the possibility of leaving the MotoGP World Championship at the end of 2022. Unfortunately, the current economic situation and the need to focus efforts on the great changes facing the Automotive world force Suzuki to reduce costs and personnel, in order to develop new technologies”, reads the statement.
It is not the first time that Suzuki has starred in a scare of dimensions as colossal as the one confirmed now, since after 37 seasons in the world championship, which it reached in 1974, in 2011 they decided to leave the queen class of the speed competition, despite to have been the great protagonists achieving titles with, among others, Barry Sheene, Kevin Schwantz and the last, until then, Kenny Roberts Jr. in 2000.
Changes in MotoGP regulations and aid to new teams led to the Hamamatsu brand returning to the championship in 2015 with a project led by Davide Brivio , which culminated in winning the MotoGP title in 2020, led by Joan Mir , just 20 years after Roberts ‘ last and on the brand’s 100th anniversary.
A monumental success that has not prevented that, for the second time in its history and after only seven seasons after its return, the brand of the big S returns to go out the back door of the world championship.
Suzuki’s decision hit the MotoGP paddock like a bomb and, above all, the heart of the racing team, made up of 45 professionals who did not expect, in any way, news of these dimensions.
In addition to Joan Mir and Alex Rins, who ended their contract at the end of the year, the rest of the team’s staff also ended their relationship at the end of this course, with the exception of the team’s new team manager, the Italian Livio Suppo , who was introduced barely two months to fill the gap left by Brivio in 2020 to go to Formula 1.
