The statement with which Suzuki announced the exit from MotoGP raises the need to find alternatives to ensure the health of the championship. Let’s retrace the story and the reasons for some historical farewells of the past
Massimo Falcioni
13 May 2022 | 13:44 – 13:44
– Milan
With a note of a few lines, Suzuki has formalized the decision to abandon the MotoGP at the end of this season to concentrate its resources on the automotive and new technologies. If you want to nitpick, the very short Suzuki press release leaves a window open: “Suzuki Motor Corporation is in discussion with Dorna on the possibility of ending its participation in MotoGP at the end of 2022”. But, of course, the games are done: now it comes to issues related to contracts, given that just over three weeks ago, on April 20, there was the signing of an agreement with Dorna which confirmed the presence of the official team of the Hamamatsu’s home in MotoGP until 2026.
hard blow
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The final part of the press release in which the workers and fans are thanked leaves no room for second thoughts: at the end of the season Suzuki will leave the MotoGP. Therefore, all that remains is to acknowledge and honor the arms of a manufacturer that has given so much to motorcycle racing, hoping that, as has already happened in the past, sooner or later it will retrace its steps. It is a severe blow for MotoGP, a warning signal for the World Championship Circus and for the entire motorcycle sector, for over two years under the heavy effects of Covid and now under the sword of Damocles of an alarming economic crisis. and social for the war in Ukraine, capable of drastically reducing the use of raw materials and destabilizing markets. Other times in the past there have been farewells to the races of large manufacturers which then, to tell the truth, only proved to be “goodbye”. This demonstrates, if not a structural fragility of motorcycling and of the manufacturers participating in the World Championship, at least a scarce consideration on the value and role of racing, considered a propaganda tool in times of fat cows and deadwood to be cut as soon as the markets go into crisis. .
the goodbyes of the past
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This time, in this affair, due to the way it was handled, neither Suzuki nor Dorna come out well, both unable to find a solution, at least pro tempore. In Motorsport, MotoGP and Formula 1, other times in the past it has happened that great manufacturers had said enough with racing. The withdrawals, basically, have always taken place either because the House dominated races and championships without any more valid opponents (so it was “officially” for Gilera, Guzzi, Mondial at the end of 1957) and therefore removing the appeal and value of its successes, or because, all ‘opposite, he never won, narrow in the role of “black sheep”, or due to budget difficulties, or due to changes in strategy by transferring the resources dedicated to racing to use the experience of competitions in series production. Suzuki, in MotoGP, has been very competitive for at least two seasons (2020 world championship with Mir) after having invested heavily and developed a new, more powerful engine, well used by both of its riders. Therefore, the farewell decision goes far beyond the racing aspect, investing in the general strategy of the Japanese Group, if anything proving that, at least for Suzuki, MotoGP has no strategic value.
value added
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And now? At the end of 1957 the main Italian manufacturers involved in racing – Guzzi, Gilera, Mondial, MV Agusta – officially abandoned competitions because, in addition to the increasingly unsustainable costs, they did not believe that the motorcycle had a future. In this perspective, racing no longer became an added value and a resource, but a luxury no longer sustainable even for large houses: victories no longer had a direct impact on sales, they were no longer the flagship but a noose around the neck. . In fact, the ability to adapt the motorcycle product to the new needs of international markets and the relationship with the overwhelming automobile was lacking, and not to fully evaluate the “value” of racing in the new context, not only as a test bed for series production. , but irreplaceable tool for the promotion and identity of the corporate brand. That ’57 abstention pact was a defeat that the Italian industry paid dearly for. Now, in a very different context, history could repeat itself. Today for Suzuki. Tomorrow who knows. Also on this occasion the saying that “The absent are always wrong” may apply.
May 13, 2022 – 1:44 pm
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