British manufacturer set to replace Honda for the 2019 season.
The conundrum of what to do with the Moto2 class appears to have been solved, with Triumph having secured a deal to supply the category from the 2019 season onwards.
First spotted by UK publication Bike Sport News and backed up by German magazine Speedweek, a deal has apparently been signed that will see Triumph replace Honda as the sole Moto2 engine supplier with a new 750cc three-cylinder engine, the base donor likely to come from the new Street Triple in the works for 2017. The new contract is scheduled to kick in full time in 2019, after Honda extended their Moto2 engine deal with MotoGP commercial rights holders Dorna until the end of the 2018 season.
Triumph beat out fellow European manufacturer MV Agusta and Kawasaki to secure the Moto2 deal, one that will see the class grow an extra 150cc with an all-new sound track of three-cylinder engines versus the four-cylinder CBR600RR engines currently in use.
No prototype Moto2 engine
Hopes that Moto2 would indeed become a prototype class like Moto3 and MotoGP have been quashed, although as respected MotoGP journalist David Emmett reports, current team owners are more than happy with the production engine situation as it costs less to run a Moto2 team than it does even a prototype Moto3 team.
It’s indeed interesting that Triumph will be returning the world’s racetracks after gradually scaling back development with their Daytona 675R Supersport machine. Rumors have long circulated that the Daytona was facing the chopping block after ever-dwindling sales, much like the rest of the Supersport class worldwide, although the machine is still raced in select domestic championships, namely its home British Supersport series.
No one from Triumph has officially gone on the record to state that this deal has been done, so we’ll wait further before making any comment. But the British firm’s arrival is good news indeed for a class that has lacked almost any form of development since its rookie year of 2010, when Tony Elias took his one and only world title.
