Suzuki has confirmed its exit from the British Superbike Championship as of 2023, following the announcement of Hawk Racing splitting from the brand.
Suzuki’s past nine months have been fairly painful from the racing side of things. It left MotoGP, withdrew the factory support from the Endurance World Championship programme, is seemingly uninterested in the arrival of Ken Roczen to the HEP team in AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross, and has now announced that it is leaving British Superbikes in an official capacity.
The confirmation from Suzuki arrived today (15 February 2023), just a day after Hawk Racing - which has been the official Suzuki entry in BSB - confirmed they were splitting with Suzuki for the upcoming BSB season. Hawk Racing’s partnership with Suzuki began in 2017 at the beginning of the current generation of the Suzuki GSX-R1000R, which has now been withdrawn from European markets.
In its own statement, Hawk Racing - which has today announced it will be running Honda CBR1000RR-R motorcycles in BSB 2023 with its riders Charlie Nesbitt and Josh Owens - reasoned that it was splitting with Suzuki because of the “manufacturer’s recent announcements about its racing activities globally, and the absence of news about the possibility of a new GSX-R1000.”
In its own statement, Suzuki said that leaving BSB was bringing it into alignment with the brand’s “global racing strategy." It seems possible at this point to describe Suzuki's motorcycle racing strategy as ‘don't race.’
Suzuki also reiterated in its statement that it will continue to provide support for those running Suzuki machinery “at all levels” with its Race Parts Programme, despite the withdrawal of its official presence in BSB. (It is perhaps worth noting that a the time of writing - 15 February 2023 - the Suzuki Race Parts Programme webpage is currently down.)
