Eleven days after the members of the Suzuki’s MotoGP team were informed and the news leaked out, on the Monday after Jerez, Suzuki have finally issued a press release confirming the news.
Suzuki have decided to withdraw from MotoGP at the end of the 2022 season.
The press release is very short and scant on details, but there are a few things that can be deduced from it. Firstly, Suzuki do not state that they are withdrawing, but in discussions with Dorna about withdrawing.
On Wednesday, Spanish journalist Nico Abad caught up briefly with Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, who told him that he “did not see a solution” to the problem with Suzuki.
Negotiations now are likely to focus on the terms of the withdrawal.
The second detail is that the reasons Suzuki give for the withdrawal are the “current economical situation” and “big changes that the Automotive world is facing in these years”, forcing them to “shift costs and human resources to develop new technologies”.
The latter statement seems to imply that Suzuki’s main focus will be on electric vehicles for the next few years, and they are sacrificing the MotoGP program as part of that.
The process of a withdrawal is likely to take several months. In the meantime, the Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP team will line up at Le Mans this weekend for the French GP.
The official press release from Suzuki appears below:
SUZUKI ANNOUNCEMENT
Team Suzuki Press Office – May 12.
Suzuki Motor Corporation is in discussions with Dorna regarding the possibility of ending its participation in MotoGP at the end of 2022.
Unfortunately, the current economical situation and the need to concentrate its effort on the big changes that the Automotive world is facing in these years, are forcing Suzuki to shift costs and human resources to develop new technologies.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our Suzuki Ecstar Team, to all those who have supported Suzuki’s motorcycle racing activities for many years and to all Suzuki fans who have given us their enthusiastic support.
Source: Suzuki Racing
Comments