A shocking news rumors spread in the MotoGP world, it was stated that the Suzuki Ecstar team decided to leave MotoGP after the 2022 season.
Although there has been no official statement from Suzuki. According to the news, the reason for Suzuki's retire was because they were experiencing a financial crisis, as quoted from Speedweek, who believed that the Japanese factory team's decision to step down was due to financial problems.
This is certainly very surprising because Suzuki is a team that is quite reckoned with this season and next season, they have one of the most competitive team packages in MotoGP.
The real improvement in the performance of the Suzuki GSX-RR motorcycle in the pre-season test to the sixth series which was quite significant and the recruitment of a team manager of Livio Suppo's caliber to lead Joan Mir and Alex Rins with the team was a sign of the seriousness of the manufacturer from Hamamatsu.
If it is true that Suzuki has retired from MotoGP, this is the second time they have retired from the most prestigious major racing event in the world. After previously in 2011 they also resigned because of the financial crisis that hit the world at that time.
In 2015, Suzuki returned to take part in the prestigious MotoGP event, they emerged with the main sponsor Ecstar which is actually an oil company that is under the same umbrella as Suzuki.
So it can be said that their main sponsor is themselves, this condition is different from a number of other factory teams that have main sponsors, such as Honda with Repsol, Ducati with Lenovo, Yamaha with Monster, and KTM sponsored by Red Bull.
However, Suzuki was able to make an impressive appearance, which they peaked in the 2020 racing season, where they managed to lock the 2020 MotoGP world title through their young potential rider Joan Mir who appeared as a rookie in a year and the following season won the world title even though only with 1 win and 7 podiums.
From a series of positive things that were made by the Suzuki Ecstar team after their comeback in 2015, the team which has its headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan decided to extend its contract with Dorna Sports to continue to take part in MotoGP until the 2026 season.
The signing of the contract between Suzuki and Dorna was carried out in April 2021. In line with that, to strengthen their commitment, Suzuki left manager Davide Brivio who left for Alpine F1 and then recruited Livio Suppo as team manager to replace Davide Brivio's position for MotoGP 2022.
As we know Livio Suppo is one of the most successful managers in MotoGP who has led Ducati and Honda to win the world title.
The news of Suzuki's sudden departure from MotoGP not only hit the team members and Dorna sports as the race organizer, Suzuki fans, Joan Mir and Alex Rins were no less shocked, even though some time ago Livio Suppo expressed the team's desire to maintain Joan Mir and Alex Rins were targeted by rival teams following their contracts expiring at the end of this season.
Quoted from The-Race, Suzuki's decision to retired was taken directly by Suzuki's headquarters in Japan without involving the Suzuki Ecstar team in MotoGP.
Team personnel, including Joan Mir and Alex Rins, only learned about it during the ongoing pre-season test at Jerez on Monday.
Suzuki itself has so far collected seven world titles in the premier class. The results were inscribed by Suzuki through Barry Sheene (1976, 1977), Marco Lucchinelli (1981), Franco Uncini (1982), Kevin Schwantz (1993), Kenny Roberts Jr (2000) and finally Joan Mir (2020).
Mir managed to win the 2020 MotoGP world title while leaving one series. The Spaniard beat Yamaha's Franco Morbidelli by 13 points.
Joan Mir's success in winning the world title was also followed by the team world title, where at that time another Suzuki rider Alex Rins locked the third position in the standings.
However, Suzuki won 6 of them in the 500cc event. Kenny Roberts Jr. became the last Suzuki racer to successfully lock the world title in the 500cc premier class motorcycle in 2000.
However, Kenny Roberts Jr. failed to achieve the best performance in the following seasons even until the MotoGP era. It was only in the era of Joan Mir and Alex Rins that successfully restored Suzuki's glory in the MotoGP event.
In MotoGP 2021, both Suzuki and Joan Mir failed to defend the title, Mir had to settle for ending the season in third position. While Rins also had to drop far in the 13th position.
This season, both Alex Rins and Joan Mir still have a chance to compete for the title, the race has only been running for six series. Rins is currently fourth in the 2022 MotoGP standings and Mir is sixth.
The two Suzuki riders have consistency in the race, from the six series they have only one failed to gain points, Mir failed in the Portugal 5 series after being 'dropped' by Jack Miller who fell right in front of Mir. While Alex Rins failed to score points in the last series at Jerez, Spain.
Suzuki's departure from MotoGP may be replaced by many teams lining up, but Suzuki's big name and achievements with many fans will certainly disappoint the fans.
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