Suzuki to quit MotoGP World Championship at the end of this season?
Watch Live Race and all sessions
Watch Replay Race and all sessions
2022 MotoGP Race Calendar,Race Results and Replays
2022 MotoGP Standings
Multiple reports suggest Suzuki team members were informed of the shock news during Monday’s post-race test in Jerez, despite Suzuki previously signing to remain in MotoGP until at least 2026.Suzuki is remaining silent, something that would not happen if such reports were untrue.Suzuki’s second withdraw from MotoGP (having stepped back from 2012-2014 due to the financial crisis) would also leave Joan Mir and fellow race winner Alex Rins in need of a new team for 2023.Both have been Suzuki riders ever since joining the premier-class, Rins in 2017 and Mir in 2019.Related Keith Huewen: ‘Have we all underestimated Aleix Espargaro?’ Jerez MotoGP Test Results – Monday lap times (FINAL)Remy Gardner: I should have ripped the other wing off as well!Marc Marquez: I was on the floor, the Spanish crowd saved me!Jerez MotoGP Test Results – Monday lap times (FINAL)Although winless last season, Suzuki and Mir still finished third in the world championship, behind only Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).Rins, who suffered a nightmare run of race mistakes last year, has taken the GSX-RR’s only podiums so far this season to hold fourth in the early standings, two places clear of Mir.Suzuki, which hired Livio Suppo as its new team manager just a few months ago, would be the first manufacturer to withdraw from MotoGP since its previous 2011 hiatus.Related Jerez MotoGP Test Results – Monday lap times (4pm) Jerez MotoGP Test Results – Monday lap times (3pm)The factory’s exit – expected to be officially confirmed by the end of Tuesday and presumably due to financial reasons – is also set to reduce the sport to five manufacturers: Ducati, Honda, Yamaha, KTM and Aprilia.However, when Kawasaki sought to leave MotoGP before the end of its contract with Dorna, in 2008, the factory was forced to run an unbranded ‘Hayate’ bike for Marco Melandri the following season as a compromise.”4Kawasaki has not returned to MotoGP since and if Suzuki does walk away mid-contract the factory might well receive a cool reception if it ever wanted to come back in future.3066472.0008.jpg What now for Joan Mir and Alex Rins?Fortunately for Mir and Rins, most seats on the 2023 grid are yet to be decided, with only Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Yamaha) officially confirmed.Although Yamaha is now confident of keeping Quartararo for another two years that still means one Honda, one Ducati, one KTM and two Aprilia factory team seats are available.With Aprilia and Suzuki the only manufacturers currently without a satellite team, the obvious answer to retain grid numbers in 2023 would be the formation of a second Aprilia team.”5Suzuki’s 500cc/MotoGP world champions1976, 1977 – Barry Sheene1981 – Marco Lucchinelli1982 – Franco Uncini1993 – Kevin Schwantz2000 – Kenny Roberts Jnr2020 – Joan Mir
For motorsport news follow TRmotosports on social media.
