Opinion: The MotoGP factory that could benefit from Suzuki 2023 shocker

The reports that broke on Monday revealing that Suzuki are planning on pulling out of MotoGP at the end of this year are sure to have taken everyone around the paddock by surprise.

It is less than two years since Joan Mir took the Japanese factory to its first world title of the MotoGP era, while Mir’s teammate Alex Rins also has three races wins to his name on the bike, and is in contention for the Championship himself this season.

Indeed, Suzuki themselves still lead the teams’ Championship, and prior to that news emerging, there had aready been rumours circulating about just who might make up Suzuki’s rider lineup for the 2023 campaign.

Now though, it seems the factory could once again be on their way out of the sport, just as they departed little more than a decade ago in 2011, before eventually returning in 2015.

But while Dorna’s strongly worded statement in response to those rumours made it subtly but clearly apparent that the series organisers will not be letting Suzuki leave easily, if the factory is to move on in the next few months, then one other factory currently competing in MotoGP who could stand to benefit, are Aprilia.

For many years, it has seemed that the number of 24 bikes that current hold a permanent place on the MotoGP grid has been the amount the Dorna have always aspired to.

The departure of Suzuki’s pair of machinces would of course, mean that MotoGP would be two short of that number, something Dorna would no doubt be keen to address.

In their aforementioned statement around that Suzuki speculation, Dorna were keen to point out that they reguarly receive interest from other factories and teams about entering into MotoGP.

While the cost involved with such a venture may make it hard to imagine