Bizarre Suzuki test planned on eve of MotoGP exit

The Suzuki test team and test rider Takuya Tsuda is planning to run at the Japanese circuit next week in a private test that will effectively only be useful for the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix.

That, of course, will be the final race for the factory Suzuki squad before it shuts down its MotoGP programme.

The Japanese manufacturer made the shock announcement of its MotoGP exit back in May, catching its own riders and team members by surprise.

Promoter Dorna Sports was also caught out by the Suzuki announcement having signed the manufacturer up for the premier class until 2026.

After some initial back and forth, Suzuki pressed on with plans to break that commitment and withdraw from MotoGP just three years after Joan Mir won the title in 2020 - the marque's first in 20 years.

Since then the riders and team members have been shoring up their respective futures. Both Mir and Alex Rins are headed to Honda, the former to the factory team while the latter will join LCR.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Other team members have also found new homes in the MotoGP paddock, including Rins' crew chief Juan Manuel Cazeaux, who will work with Maverick Vinales next season at Aprilia, and Mir's crew chief Frankie Carchedi, who is off to join Fabio Di Giannantonio at Gresini.

Others in the team, however, are unsure of their plans beyond the 2022 season-ending race in Valencia.

For that very reason the news of this two-day, pre-Valencia has gone down poorly with staff, many of whom see it as an unnecessary expense ahead of Suzuki's farewell.

Autosport understands the reason for the test is to evaluate a series of aerodynamic elements, as well as other components, that are highly unlikely to ever be used on Mir and Rins' race bikes.