VOL. 54 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 10, 2017 P31
TRIUMPH TO TAKE OVER MOTO2!
M
oto2's future appears to
have been secured with
reports that Triumph will step in
to fill the breach with a three-
cylinder production-based
engine, after the current Honda
CBR600 engines are withdrawn
at the end of 2018.
The news, reported on
British and Austrian websites,
remains unofficial, with Dorna
having hoped to keep it under
wraps until the start of the 2017
season. But it fits with com-
ments made to Cycle News by
Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta
at the final GP of this year, who
promised an announcement on
replacement engine "in the near
future."
Honda has supplied mildly
tuned CBR600 engines since
the birth of the class in 2010,
but with the end of production
of the middleweight sports bike,
the writing was on the wall—in
spite of a renewal of the supply
contract during 2015 to continue
until the end of 2018.
Dorna's search for a replace-
ment had an open brief and
there were strong suggestions
that a twin-cylinder 500cc race
engine would fit well in the
hierarchy, between the 250cc
singles of Moto3 and the four-
cylinder 1000s of MotoGP, offer-
ing a sharing of technology.
But the low cost of using
production engines—estimated
at 60,000 euros a year—makes
Moto2 cheaper than Moto3, and
is popular with team managers,
if not with riders and fans.
Triumph's triple fills the brief,
but while insiders believe it will
be a full 750cc capacity, it is not
clear whether it will be based
on the current 675cc Triumph
Daytona production bike, or a
new version to be launched next
year.
Official confirmation is ex-
pected by the official start of
the season at the latest, giving
chassis makers two full years to
develop equipment for the new
regime of engines.
Michael Scott
Moto2 has long been a
Honda playground, but
as of 2019, Triumph
will take over the
control engine mantle.
