Suzuki first entered a works team in the 500 cc Grand Prix class in 1974, with Barry Sheene and Jack Findlay as riders aboard the RG500. The square-four two-stroke design had been engineered by Makoto Hase and proved competitive immediately, with Sheene scoring his first win at the 1975 Dutch TT. Sheene went on to win back-to-back world championships in 1976 and 1977, the first titles of the modern era for the Hamamatsu manufacturer.
The team's next championship came in 1981, when Franco Uncini won the 500 cc title riding for the Roberto Gallina customer team on factory-supplied machinery. Suzuki withdrew factory support after 1983 following Uncini's serious injury at that year's Dutch TT, but returned with factory-supported entries in 1987. Kevin Schwantz emerged as the squad's new standard-bearer: after years of front-running performances, he finally captured the 500 cc World Championship in 1993 with four race wins.
Kenny Roberts Jr. joined Suzuki in 1999 and won four races, finishing second in the championship. He became World Champion in 2000 with four further victories, becoming the second generation of the Roberts family to win a premier-class title.
In 2002, the debut year of the MotoGP class, Suzuki fielded the GSV-R four-stroke with Roberts Jr. and Sete Gibernau. Results were modest, with the team's best a third-place podium for Roberts at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Through the mid-2000s the team recorded improving but inconsistent results: Chris Vermeulen took Suzuki's first four-stroke MotoGP win at the 2007 French Grand Prix, finishing sixth overall that season while teammate John Hopkins placed fourth. At the end of the 2011 season, citing the need to reduce costs amid global economic pressures, Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP.
Suzuki announced a return in 2013 and re-entered competition in 2015 with an all-new machine, the GSX-RR, and a restructured team organisation led by team manager Davide Brivio. Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales were the debut riders. The team built steadily toward competitiveness across subsequent seasons.
In 2020 the programme delivered its greatest results. Joan Mir won the Riders' World Championship — the first Suzuki MotoGP title since Kenny Roberts Jr.'s in 2000 — while Suzuki secured the Teams' Championship for the first time. Mir's title was achieved through remarkable consistency during the disrupted Covid-affected season. Álex Rins provided further victories for the team through this period, winning Suzuki's final race at the 2022 Valencian Grand Prix as the team departed the championship.
On 12 May 2022, Suzuki announced discussions with promoter Dorna about ending participation at the close of the 2022 season, citing a reallocation of management resources. The timing and manner of the departure — mid-season and contractually earlier than expected — generated significant controversy in the paddock, as Suzuki had been reported to have obligations to compete until 2026.
Suzuki's MotoGP record spans five decades and encompasses two distinct manufacturer eras: the dominant two-stroke years and the four-stroke MotoGP class. The 1976 and 1977 championships with Barry Sheene marked Suzuki as a major force in its first works campaign. The 2020 title with Joan Mir stands as the high point of the four-stroke programme and one of the more surprising championship victories of the modern era. The GSX-RR was regarded as a balanced, rider-friendly machine — a contrast to the more powerful but demanding bikes of some rivals — and the team's exit left a notable vacancy on a grid where manufacturer diversity had been valued by both promoters and fans.