Kawasaki Motors Racing was the European subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and was located in Netherlands. It was responsible for managing the racing activities of the MotoGP team. The subsidiary was set up in 2007 as a result of the Japanese manufacturer's necessary split from Harald Eckl's organisation, who managed the Kawasaki MotoGP team since 2002. The reason for the split was Eckl’s involvement with a competitor's MotoGP activities, which forced Kawasaki to terminate the relationship immediately. For the first time since Kawasaki returned to the premier class of motorcycle racing, the team became a complete ‘in house’ factory team.