Kawasaki's official World Superbike team have announced that they will not apply for an entry to the iconic Suzuka 8 Hour event in August.

The Kawasaki Racing Team, who have won the Suzuka 8 Hour event as recently as 2019 have decided to not take part in this years event.

After finishing second at last years event it comes as a surprise that the Japanese manufacturer will not enter their main Superbike team for 2023.

The Kawasaki Racing Team have stated that the Suzuka 8 Hour is not their focus for this season and would rather focus on their WorldSBK efforts.

“Competing at the Suzuka 8hr requires time and commitment from a vast number of people. It might look similar to Superbike racing – and we even use Superbike riders like Johnny and Alex - but this race is like no other and requires its own testing and preparation programme on top of what we already do in WorldSBK." stated KRT Team Manager, Guim Roda.

"Just about everything is different and everyone needs to take time to adapt to different technical and performance parameters for this one race. To compete at the highest level and have success snatched from your hands is not easy to adjust to so we will not appear on the grid this year."

"Our 2023 focus at KRT is now 100% WorldSBK."

This decision from KRT appears to come after their performances at the start of the 2023 World Superbike season, and how the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hour ended.

So far in WorldSBK after four rounds and 12 races Kawasaki lie third in the Manufacturers Championship, a mighty 120 points off of Ducati who sit at the top of the Manufacturers standings.

KRT are not having it their way in the Riders Championship either with Jonathan Rea in fourth and Alex Lowes down in ninth place. The six-time World Superbike Champion, Rea finds himself 136 points behind the Championship leader, Alvaro Bautista.

Featured images from kawasaki.co.uk