Suzuki MotoGP was the factory-backed team of Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki in the MotoGP World Championship, most recently using the name Team Suzuki Ecstar for sponsorship purposes. Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP competition at the conclusion of the 2022 season, winning their final race with Álex Rins.
History 1970s In 1971, Grand Prix racer Jack Findlay and his business partner Daniele Fontana constructed a racing motorcycle using a Suzuki T series engine with a chassis of their own design.Jack Findlay obituary - The Telegraph Findlay rode the motorcycle to victory in the 1971 Ulster Grand Prix marking the first victory for a Suzuki motorcycle in the premier 500cc class, as well as the first-ever 500cc class victory for a motorcycle powered by a two stroke engine.
Suzuki first entered a works team in the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship in with riders Barry Sheene and Findlay riding the Suzuki RG500. The motorcycle was designed by Makoto Hase using the proven square-four, two stroke engine architecture that Suzuki had developed during their successful Grand Prix racing program in the 1960s. The RG 500 was proven successful in its first race at the 1974 500cc French Grand Prix when, Barry Sheene finished in second place behind the defending world champion, Phil Read. The team's first victory came in , a pole-to-finish win by Barry Sheene at the Dutch TT. Sheene finished the season 6th overall with two wins.
Having developed the RG500, Suzuki ceded direct control of their Grand Prix racing program to their British importer, Suzuki GB in 1976 so that, they could concentrate on developing they first four stroke motorcycle, the Suzuki GS series. Barry Sheene won the riders' championship in with a total of five wins. Sheene's second 500cc riders' championship came in with six wins. Teammate Steve Parrish was fifth.
In with two wins on the new Suzuki RGA, Sheene finished second in the championship behind Yamaha rider Kenny Roberts. Teammate Wil Hartog was fourth overall, also won two races. The championship was again won by Roberts with Virginio Ferrari finishing second, Barry Sheene third and Wil Hartog fourth, all riding the new Suzuki RGB.
1980s Randy Mamola and Graeme Crosby joined Suzuki in . While Yamaha rider Roberts won his third title, Suzuki riders Mamola was second, and Marco Lucchinelli third. Lucchinelli became the 500cc World Champion in riding the new Suzuki RG 500 gamma for the Roberto Gallina racing team.
Lucchinelli left Suzuki to join Honda in . He was replaced on the Gallina team by Franco Uncini who went on to win the World Championship with five wins. Uncini was severely injured at the Dutch TT at Assen in and was unable to defend his title. Suzuki withdrew factory support at the end of the season.
After three years away Suzuki returned in with factory supported entries. While not a full-time return, riders Takumi Itoh and Kevin Schwantz had some good results aboard the new Suzuki RGV500. Suzuki made a full return to racing in with Schwantz finishing 8th overall with two wins whilst teammate Rob McElnea finished the season in 10th place. With a total of six wins, Schwantz was ranked fourth for the season.
1990s In Schwantz was second overall with five wins while teammate Niall Mackenzie was 4th. Another five wins ranked Schwantz third overall in . Doug Chandler became Schwantz's teammate for during which Schwantz enjoyed one win to finish the season fourth followed by Chandler's fifth place overall.
Schwantz won his long-awaited first World Championship in with four race wins. His new teammate Alex Barros also scored a win and finished 6th overall.
In , Schwantz was 4th overall with two wins whilst Barros was 8th. Early in the season, Schwantz decided to retire from motorcycle competition. The other Suzuki rider Daryl Beattie finished the season second with two race wins.
Scott Russell joined Beattie in . Russell finished the season 6th while Beattie suffered serious injuries pre-season and did not have his previous form. He finished 18th. Beattie was joined by Anthony Gobert in . Beattie finished the season 11th and Gobert 15th. A fifth-place finish by Beattie was the team's best result that season.
Suzuki entered an all Japanese riders lineup in with Nobuatsu Aoki and Katsuaki Fujiwara. Fujiwara however was injured during pre-season tests and Aoki contested the world championship alone. He finished 9th for the season with a best result of 4th place. New rider Kenny Roberts Jr. joined Aoki in . Roberts Jr. took Suzuki's first win in the four years since 1995. His four wins gave him second place in the championship. Aoki was 13th.
2000s Roberts became World Champion in with a total of four victories, Aoki was 10th overall.
In 2001 Sete Gibernau joined Roberts riding the Suzuki RGV500. Gibernau finished ninth overall and Roberts 11th.
In , the debut year of the new MotoGP class, Roberts and Gibernau rode the new Suzuki GSV-R four-stroke motorcycle. The team's best result was a 3rd-place podium finish by Roberts at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Overall, Roberts finished 9th and Gibernau 16th.
John Hopkins joined Roberts in . Hopkins came seventh at the Spanish Grand Prix. However, Roberts missed three races due to a crash in the Italian Grand Prix and finished the season 19th two places behind Hopkins in 17th place. The rider line-up remained the same for while Bridgestone replaced Michelin as the team's tyre supplier. Hopkins finished the season 16th with Roberts Jr. again two places behind in 18th.
Once again the rider line-up remained the same for , while Englishman Paul Denning became the new team manager taking over the position of Garry Taylor. Roberts took a second place podium-finish in the wet British Grand Prix but finished the season 13th. Hopkins finished 14th for the season.
Chris Vermeulen joined Hopkins in . Hopkins finished the season 10th while Vermeulen finished 11th with a 2nd place podium-finish at the 2006 Australian Grand Prix.
Both riders stayed with the team in and raced the new 800cc Suzuki GSV-R. Vermeulen took Suzuki's first win since the advent of four-stroke regulations and finished the season 6th overall. Hopkins finished 4th with four podium finishes.
For 2008, Chris Vermeulen was joined by Loris Capirossi as the rider lineup and the same lineup remained in 2009.
2010s For the 2010 season Álvaro Bautista joined the team.
For the 2011 season, the team fielded only one GSV-R for Bautista with no replacement for Loris Capirossi, who moved to the Pramac Racing team. At the end of 2011, Suzuki pulled out of MotoGP citing the need to reduce costs amid the global economic downturn.
In June 2013, Suzuki announced that they would return to MotoGP with a factory team in 2015. On 30 September 2014, Suzuki confirmed that it would participate in MotoGP from 2015, with Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales as their two riders. They raced a newly developed MotoGP machine, the GSX-RR, with a restructured team organisation led by Davide Brivio.
2020s
In 2020, Suzuki secured the team's title for the first time, while rider Joan Mir secured the rider's title, becoming the first Suzuki rider to do so since Kenny Roberts Jr. in 2000.
On 12 May 2022, Suzuki announced they were "...in discussions with Dorna regarding the possibility of ending its participation in MotoGP at the end of 2022". Suzuki were reported to have contractual obligations to participate until 2026.Dorna contacts Suzuki to remind it of contract conditions the-race.com, 3 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022 Suzuki won two of their final three races in Australia and Valencia.
MotoGP results
By rider
Year Class Team name Bike Riders Races Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points Pos.2022MotoGPTeam Suzuki EcstarSuzuki GSX-RR Joan Mir1600008715th Álex Rins1924001737th Kazuki Watanabe10000031st Takuya Tsuda100000NC Danilo Petrucci100000NC
By year (key) Year Team Motorcycle Tyres No. Riders 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Points Points Points Telefónica Movistar Suzuki Suzuki GSV-R JPN SAF SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL15 Sete Gibernau Ret 16 9 12 Ret Ret Ret 6 Ret 4 Ret 8 Ret 14 12 13 51 16th 150 4th 143 3rd10 Ret Ret 8 5 Ret 7 6 14 11 4 3 6 8 9 Ret 99 9th51 Ret 0 NCTeam Suzuki Test33 Akira Ryō 2 11 15 13 11 14 11 41 18th colspan=2 Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki GSV-R JPN SAF SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL21 John Hopkins 13 13 7 Ret Ret 15 15 11 Ret 17 18 DNS Ret 12 13 29 17th 55 10th 43 5th10 Kenny Roberts Jr. 14 15 13 16 Ret 15 20 17 17 15 14 9 11 22 19th71 Yukio Kagayama Ret 12 4 25th43 Akira Ryō 20 0 (6) 24thTeam Suzuki Test43 Akira Ryō 10 6 24th colspan=2 Team Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R SAF SPA FRA ITA CAT NED RIO GER GBR CZE POR JPN QAT MAL AUS VAL21 John Hopkins 13 15 Ret Ret 14 15 9 8 Ret 6 Ret 8 Ret 15 12 45 16th 89 9th 73 5th10 Kenny Roberts Jr. Ret 8 12 Ret 17 16 7 8 17 10 14 Ret 37 18th32 Gregorio Lavilla 16 17 0 NC71 Yukio Kagayama 11 14 7 23rdTeam Suzuki Test32 Gregorio Lavilla Ret Ret 0 NC colspan=2 Team Suzuki MotoGP Red Bull Suzuki (Rd. 8) Suzuki GSV-R SPA POR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED USA GBR GER CZE JPN MAL QAT AUS TUR VAL21 John Hopkins 14 Ret 7 16 11 Ret 14 8 11 Ret 14 5 9 17 10 15 13 63 14th 126 8th 100 5th10 Kenny Roberts Jr. Ret 12 Ret 13 15 15 16 14 2 11 11 8 7 11 63 13th9 Nobuatsu Aoki 16 Ret 0 NC Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R SPA QAT TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER USA CZE MAL AUS JPN POR VAL21 John Hopkins 9 Ret 17 4 15 10 4 6 8 10 6 7 6 12 12 6 11 116 10th 214 5th 151 4th71 Chris Vermeulen 12 Ret 7 Ret 10 14 6 10 16 7 5 12 11 2 11 9 Ret 98 11thTeam Suzuki Test64 13 3 21st colspan=2 Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R QAT SPA TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE SMR POR JPN AUS MAL VAL21 John Hopkins 4 19 6 3 7 5 4 5 5 7 15 2 3 6 10 7 8 3 189 4th 368 3rd 241 4th71 Chris Vermeulen 7 9 11 7 1 8 7 3 16 11 2 5 2 13 11 8 7 6 179 6th Team Suzuki Test64 Kousuke Akiyoshi 17 Ret 0 NC rowspan="2" colspan=2 9 Nobuatsu Aoki 13 3 25th Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R QAT SPA POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL7 Chris Vermeulen 17 10 8 Ret 5 10 7 8 7 3 3 6 5 9 Ret 15 9 13 128 8th 248 5th 181 4th65 Loris Capirossi 8 5 9 9 7 7 Ret WD 7 15 3 7 16 6 10 7 9 118 10th11 Ben Spies 14 2 (20) 19th Team Suzuki Test11 Ben Spies 8 6 18 (20) 19th colspan=2 rowspan=3 64 Kousuke Akiyoshi Ret 0 NC9 Nobuatsu Aoki 17 0 NC Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R QAT JPN SPA FRA ITA CAT NED USA GER GBR CZE IND SMR POR AUS MAL VAL7 Chris Vermeulen 7 10 10 6 10 11 5 8 13 13 11 11 9 10 11 6 15 106 12th 216 6th 133 4th65 Loris Capirossi Ret 7 6 8 5 5 9 Ret 11 11 5 7 5 Ret 12 9 14 110 9th Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R QAT SPA FRA ITA GBR NED CAT GER USA CZE IND SMR ARA JPN MAL AUS POR VAL19 Álvaro Bautista Ret 10 DNS 14 12 14 5 Ret Ret Ret 8 8 8 7 5 12 11 9 85 13th 129 6th 108 6th65 Loris Capirossi 9 Ret Ret 10 Ret 13 7 11 10 Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret DNS 13 Ret 44 16th Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R QAT SPA POR FRA CAT GBR NED ITA GER USA CZE IND SMR ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL19 Álvaro Bautista DNS 13 12 12 5 11 13 7 Ret Ret 6 8 6 Ret Ret C Ret 67 13th 73 8th 73 4th21 John Hopkins 10 DNS C 6 21st