The 2019 Moto2 Championship is rapidly approaching, and next year’s season sees the introduction of a new spec-engine platform. Using a 765cc three-cylinder engine from Triumph, Moto2 competitors have begun testing their new chassis designs for the British triple.
Out in Aragon, we get our first glimpse of the front-running race bike providers: Kalex, KTM, and NTS, as well as Triumph’s own test mule, which uses a Daytona 675 chassis.
Shaking down their machines ahead of the start of next season, bike manufacturers focused on learning the new race engine and its accompanying spec-ECU.
The Kalex was ridden by Moto2 racer Alex Marquez and test rider Jesko Raffin; on the KTM was Julian Simon (2009 125cc World Champion and Moto2 runner-up) and test rider Ricky Cardús; and on the NTS was Moto2/MotoGP veteran Alex de Angelis.
Lap times were said to be on-par with the current 2018 times at the circuit, which bodes well considering that only two days of testing have been done on the new machines.
Bringing more technology and power to the series, Moto2 is set for a solid performance bump in the 2019 season, as the championship series phases out of the Honda CBR6000RR based platform.
“It was exciting to see the new chassis and our triple 756cc engine together on track for the first time, and better still to see such a great first test result,” said Steve Sargent, Chief Product Officer for Triumph Motorcycles
“We are very pleased with the progress to date and impressed with the level of passion and effort from the chassis teams, the riders, the ECU team Magneti Marelli, Exernpro, and Dorna in developing the new generation of Moto2 motorcycles.”
Of course the big peculiarity with Triumph’s Moto2 project is the lack of a sport bike in the company’s motorcycle lineup – the Triumph Daytona 675R getting dropped as Euro4 regulations came online.
There has been much talk and speculation about the possibility of a Triumph Daytona 765 replacing the now defunct 675cc model, using the 765cc engine found on the Triumph Street Triple RS.
Our sources tell us that is not to be, however, with no Daytona 765 in the works for the 2019 model year.
Triumph Daytona Moto2 Test Mule
KTM Moto2 Race Bike
Kalex Moto2 Race Bike
NTS Moto2 Race Bike
Source: Triumph
