Suzuki first contested the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship as a works entrant in 1974, fielding riders Barry Sheene and Jack Findlay on the newly developed RG500. The machine, designed by Makoto Hase around a square-four two-stroke architecture Suzuki had refined through their 1960s Grand Prix programme, proved immediately competitive. Sheene claimed the team's first race victory at the 1975 Dutch TT and went on to win consecutive world championships in 1976 and 1977, establishing Suzuki as a premier-class force.
After Suzuki ceded operational control of their racing programme to their British importer Suzuki GB in 1976 to focus on road car development, the factory maintained technical involvement while the structure evolved. The 1981 season saw Franco Uncini win the world title for the Roberto Gallina-run Suzuki entry, but factory support withdrew at the end of 1983 following Uncini's serious injury at Assen that year.
Suzuki returned to top-level competition in 1987 with factory-supported entries and made a full comeback in 1988, with Kevin Schwantz as their lead rider through to his 1993 world championship season. Kenny Roberts Jr. became world champion aboard a Suzuki in 2000, giving the factory back-to-back title successes in the premier class.
When MotoGP's four-stroke era began in 2002, Suzuki introduced the GSV-R. The Rizla sponsorship deal brought a distinctive red-and-white livery to the team during a period featuring riders John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen. Hopkins was a consistent points scorer and crowd favourite; Vermeulen delivered a memorable victory at the 2007 French Grand Prix in mixed-conditions racing, giving Suzuki their first win since the switch to four-stroke regulations. That result came aboard the new 800cc GSV-R.
During the Rizla-branded seasons, the team produced competitive mid-field results while never quite challenging the dominant Honda and Ducati factory squads of the period. Hopkins scored multiple podiums and became well known for aggressive racecraft. Vermeulen's French Grand Prix win in 2007 stood as the team's landmark achievement under that livery. Loris Capirossi joined for 2008 and 2009, bringing veteran experience, while Alvaro Bautista joined for the 2010 season.
Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP at the end of 2011, citing the need to reduce costs during a global economic downturn, ending the Rizla-era team structure.
The Suzuki factory returned to MotoGP in 2015, eventually winning the teams' championship in 2020 and the riders' title with Joan Mir. That second chapter ran until the end of 2022, when Suzuki withdrew again, with Alex Rins winning the team's final race. The Rizla Suzuki identity remains associated with the mid-2000s phase of Suzuki's second premier-class stint, a period defined by emerging talent and one memorable victory in France that proved the GSV-R's potential on the right day.