After announcing that Alex de Angelis would be joining their Moto2 team for the 2012 season, NGM Forward Racing has now revealed that former MotoGP rider Yuki Takahashi will also be in their line-up.

This will be the Japanese rider’s third season in Moto2; in 2010 he was with Tech3 Racing on the Mistral where he won a very dramatic Catalunya GP after Andrea Iannone was given a ride through penalty and 2011 spent the season with Gresini Racing on the Moriwaki, where he scorded a 3rd and 2nd place podium at Estoril and Le Mans, respectively and finished 11th in the overall standings.

“I am pleased to have reached an agreement with NGM Mobile Team Forward Racing to race the Moto2 World Championship next season,” said Takahashi. “To me this represents a new challenge, because I’ll be changing everything: team, bike and frame. I want to aim at winning the 2012 title. In these two years, NGM Mobile Forward Suter Racing and have been shown to be competitive and I will giving it 100% to reach the target. “

Mark Curioni, Sporting Director: “I am very happy to have reached an agreement with Yuki for next season. For 2012 we think we have the “right” bike and we hope to see him and Alex constantly fighting for the top positions. Aside from his professional side, he is very nice and kind that makes a really nice person to work with. I really think he’s the right rider for our team and he’ll integrate with the rest team without any effort. ”

....

0 comments

Forward Racing couldn’t have picked a more popular rider and mouthpiece than Colin Edwards to announce that the team will be fielding a Suter-BMW machine next season.

The veteran MotoGP rider confirmed he would be riding for the Claiming Rule Team (CRT) early last September and hinted that the team could be using a Yamaha R1 engine inside of one of Guy Coulon’s Tech3 chassis, however this was shot down by Yamaha, so the team turned to the only CRT based bike that has been extensively developed so far, the Suter-BMW.

The Suter-BMW uses a SBK spec S1000RR engine inside a Suter chassis and the bike ridden by Moto2 rider Mika Kallio at the Brno test in August was 3.9 seconds slower than Casey Stoner on the RC213V, but this was already a definite improvement from when the Finn tested the machine at Mugello in July when it was over six seconds slower, always compared to Stoner.

Edwards will have have a vast amount of work to do in 2012 as he tries to make this machine competitive over the season.

Source | mcn.com

....

0 comments

Colin Edwards announced late this afternoon what many already suspected, he’s staying in MotoGP in 2012 and be riding for NGM Forward Racing’s CRT team making him the first rider to be officially confirmed as part of a CRT tea,.

The American will be the sole rider of the new MotoGP squad and should be riding a machine powered by a Yamaha R1 engine, but the chassis maker is still unknown, but Edwards would prefer it to be a Tech3 chassis.

While the team has been linked to a BMW/Suter set-up, it was confirmed during the press conference that the Italian team is in negotiations with Edward’s current boss Herve Poncharal and Guy Coulon, his current crew chief and designer of Tech 3’s Moto2 chassis.

....

0 comments

Even if Jules Cluzel and Alex Baldolini have already tested Forward Racing team’s Suter bike, both riders were officially confirmed only two days before Christmas, as was the new management, after team manager Andrea Dosoli’s switch to Yamaha Sterilgarda in Superbikes.

Naturally Cluzel was confirmed after finishing 7th in the 2010 Moto2 standings, with a win at the Silverstone GP and third place podium in the season open in Qatar, while the 25-year old Baldolini will be replacing Claudio Corti in the team. Baldolini took a second place podium at Estoril with Caretta Technology Race Dept., one of few teams that didn’t make the 2011 Moto2 entry list.

John Cuzari, CEO of Media Action and owner of Team Forward Racing has assigned Marco Curioni as Sporting Director and Sergio Verbena in the role of technical manager.

“I’m really happy to start a new adventure with this team,” said Baldolini. “I’m confident that combining my experience with their professionalism, we will be able to compete consistently for the positions that count. Even in the first test, and I wasn’t in the best physical condition, I immediately had a good feeling with the bike and the team.”

Continue reading: Moto2: Forward Racing officially confirms Cluzel and Baldolini

....

0 comments

Another two riders have been confirmed to ride in next season’s Moto2 championship:

Team WTR San Marino have confirmed French rider Valentin Debise as their Moto2 rider for next year. The 17 year old finished 21st in the 250cc championship with Team Cip Moto GP250. The Sammarinese will be using the AT02, developed by German based ADV Advanced Technology that was seen during the Moto2 tests in Valencia and was tested by Alessandro Brannetti.

Forward Racing (former Hayate Racing Team) has also decided on a French rider and it will be Jules Cluzel, who finished the 2009 250cc season in 12th place. Cluzel will be riding a Suter MMX.

Besides Forward Racing, Italtrans, Technomag CIP and Kiefer Racing will also be using the chassis produced by the Swiss-based manufacturer Suter Racing Technology.

Source | motogp.com

....

0 comments

The Hayate Racing Team that ran the 2009 season with an unbranded Kawasaki NinjaZX-RR after the factory’s decision to pullout of MotoGP, and last minute agreement between Dorna and the Japanese manufacturer saw the Hayate team run by Andrea Dosoli.

The Hayate team will not be partecipating in the 2010 MotoGP championship, but Dosoli’s team will be in the new 600 four stroke Moto2 class, but have decided to change the squad’s name from Hayate to Forward Racing.

Forward Racing will have two rider line up (Ricky Cardùs will be one of the riders, and the second should be Jules Cluzel) and they will be using the Swiss Suter MMX.

Source | bikeracing and moneyhouse

....

0 comments