Suzuki Out Of MotoGP
The team won't be there in 2012
By: By Michael Scott
Photography By: Gold & Goose
Article MORE IN ROAD RACING >>
Suzuki is out of grand prix racing, after the factory finally pulled the plug under pressure of a deadline from increasingly feisty Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta.
While there has been no official confirmation from the factory, understood to be preparing a statement to be released in the next week, Rizla Suzuki mechanics were informed last week that there would be no entry for 2012.
The email from team manager Paul Denning hinted at a possible return in 2014.
Denning was unable to confirm or deny the withdrawal, saying comment would have to wait until official word from Japan. "But the longer the situation is unclear, the more negative it becomes," he added.
Ezpeleta ran out of patience at the final GP, giving Suzuki a deadline of the following Friday for a decision, so that Suzuki's place can be given to a CRT entry.
The team, including rider Alvaro Bautista, had been hanging on the decision for months. Bautista finally jumped ship two days after the last race, unable to turn down an offer from the San Carlo Gresini team, to take the Honda left vacant by the loss of Marco Simoncelli.
The delay was because various factions within Suzuki were in dispute. The racing and marketing departments were for MotoGP, along with the international dealer network; but others thought the dwindling superbike market versus growing scooter and runabout sales meant racing was becoming irrelevant.
Suzuki blamed the world economic situation, when they cut the team back to one rider for this year. The company's economic problems have been compounded not only by the general drop in the market but also by the disagreements with Volkswagen less than two years into a co-operation agreement between the two companies. This may yet result in a costly buy-back of the 19.9-percent stake Suzuki sold to Volkswagen in 2009.
The possibility of a come-back in 2014 is in line with information leaking from Japan that the race department is continuing engine development. There were two 1000cc projects, one a V-four like the GSV-R, and an in-line engine, like their street bikes. The latter is thought to be the favoured option.
At the Japanese GP in Motegi, former GP rider Nobuatsu Aoki confirmed he had been track-testing a 1000cc machine, "with still a lot of problems."
Suzuki's withdrawal drops the number of factory bikes on the MotoGP grid next year to 12.
• Yamaha will again field four: Lorenzo, Spies, Dovizioso, Crutchlow.
• Honda go from six to four: Stoner, Pedrosa, new Gresini signing Bautista and Stefan Bradl for LCR.
• Ducati also drop by two: Rossi, Hayden, Barbera (Pramac) and Karel Abraham.
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