After a terrific season opener in Qatar, which saw Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) claim victory under the lights, Triumph are ready to relaunch their sophomore year powering the Moto2™ World Championship.
Ahead of the 2020 season, Triumph worked tirelessly on focussing on using the data acquired from 2019, and a full examination of all of the engines used, to understand how each individual component has performed in a very highly competitive motorcycle championship.
From this, Triumph have focused on looking at improvements to dimensions and tolerances which will allow them to soften the over-rev limit imposed last year on downshifting. Combined with the benefit to the teams of having one year’s worth of data using Triumph engines, and the levelling factor of so many rider changes since 2019, the 2020 restart is sure to be another thriller delivering even faster lap times and even closer racing.
While the Moto2™ Championship battle will rage on, the new Triumph Triple Challenge #PoweredByTriumph continues too, which celebrates the closeness of the competition in the intermediate class. So how does it work? Here’s a reminder:
- Fastest top speed: 7 points
- Pole position: 6 points
- Fastest race lap: 5 points
The winner at the end of the season will be rewarded with a Triumph Street Triple RS motorcycle, which is powered by the same 765cc engine that launched Nagashima to victory in Qatar. Further demonstrating the closeness of competition in the class, there are two joint-leaders of the Triumph Triple Trophy #PoweredByTriumph as we gear up for Round 2 – Marcos Ramirez (American Racing) and Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) both sit on seven points having recorded an identical fastest top speed of 299.1km/h in Qatar.
Speaking after the opening round, Steve Sargent - Triumph’s Chief Product Officer - said: “One year on from our first race in Qatar and the goosebumps are still there just as much! What an amazing opening race that was, with another new winner in Tetsuta, an incredibly close podium, a new lap record and exactly the closeness of racing we’ve become accustomed to enjoying now in Moto2. It feels great to get the 2020 season going, to launch our Triumph Triple Trophy #PoweredByTriumph which yesterday highlighted just how close the championship is and we all can’t wait for the next race.
“We’re very proud of what we achieved last year in Moto2™, but we won’t rest on our laurels and we’ve worked hard over the winter to make improvements using the benefits of a full season of race data, and as we’ve already seen, this year has started with more new lap records, beating those set using our engines last year, and with a number of new riders appearing near the top of the timesheets.”