As we delve deeper into the second-half of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship season, so too do we near the day Suzuki bids ‘sayonara’ to the series… probably for good this time.
Though the Hamamatsu marque hasn’t quite reached the heady heights of success in the premier class of motorcycle racing as esteemed Japanese rivals Honda and Yamaha, Suzuki has still been a force in the premier class for many decades, winning the title as recently as 2020 with Joan Mir.
It’s for that reason Suzuki’s bombshell news that it will quit MotoGP came as such a surprise. However, now that the shock has subsided, attention has turned towards what will be an emotional final few events for the manufacturer and its Spanish-based Ecstar team.
Nevertheless, Suzuki has no plans to exit quietly and is subsequently ramping up preparations to go out on a bang, beginning with an appearance at the Autolook Week Torino festival in Turin.
Held on September 7-11 - a few days after the conclusion of the San Marino MotoGP in Misano - Suzuki will take centre stage with a presentation of its two title-winning Suzuki RG500s, which won the 500GP championship in 1982 and 1981 in the respective hands of Franco Uncini and Marco Lucchinelli.
Meanwhile, Alex Rins and Kazuki Watanabe - taking the place of the injured Mir - will be present with the current generation Suzuki GSX-RR on display.
However, perhaps the most interesting showstars will be two Suzuki Hayabusa GP Edition customs, which have been overhauled in liveries inspired by the Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR bikes. Looking resplendent in blue and silver, the Hayabusas are distinguished by their fluro red and yellow flourishes, as raced by Rins and Mir respectively.
It is unclear if the Hayabusa pair will be one-offs (well, two-offs) or whether it could lead to a full production run, similar to that as offered on the GSX-R1000R and GSX-R125.
