Triumph was the seventh manufacturer involved in Grand Prix before Suzuki's withdrawal from competition placed it in sixth place. The English coat of arms is certainly not with its peers in MotoGP which are Yamaha, Honda, KTM, Ducati and Aprilia. But without him, there would simply be no Moto2. A position as exclusive supplier to the intermediate Grand Prix category which has already brought it notoriety, competence and knowledge. So, as they say in perfidious Albion: “what else?” ".
This is an interesting interview given by Steve Sargent, product manager at Triumph in crash.net. It thus convinces that when building motorcycles to sell them on the dedicated market, competing at a high level is essential in various ways. The image, skills such as research and dynamism in the company are concretely felt. As many elements as Suzuki decided to reject in his reflection on what is nevertheless his future.
Since we are talking about Suzuki, his early departure from the Grands Prix, abruptly and clumsily announced, left a place to be taken in MotoGP. To fill it, Triumph has been mentioned as a possible candidate alongside BMW et Kawasaki. But because the English had already been mobilized since 2019 to supply the engines to Moto2, they were the most credible to take up the gauntlet. However, it didn't.
And here’s why: “ in terms of budget, it's another world » says Steve Sargent. " And it's not just about the budget to race, it's about the amount of R&D spending and the R&D effort that has to be behind it. We are therefore focusing for the moment on the Moto2, Supersport and Motocross and Enduro ". A sufficient strategy to provide everything you are looking for Triumph in his approach: “ our expectation was to demonstrate what Triumph is capable of as a company, particularly its engineering and R&D capability. This was about trying to raise awareness of what we are capable of in terms of developing high-performance engines and the reliability of the engineering behind them. ».
« At Triumph, competition helps the development of road motorcycles because it is the same team that makes both the production machine and the Moto2 engines.«
And the manager explains how this strategy has paid off for his company: “ Moto2 is really a great opportunity and an excellent support to be able to do it. In countries where MotoGP is very popular – Southern Europe, Indonesia for example – Triumph's awareness as a brand has increased significantly since our involvement in Moto2. Ultimately, what we really want to do is sell more motorcycles. I think Moto2 did us a lot of good ».
He adds : " It’s not just new customers that Moto2 has helped attract to the Triumph brand, but also engineers. We now have quite a few engineers applying to work at Triumph who have said, 'the reason I applied is because I saw you in Moto2, I'm a racing fan and I want to get involved there- inside kind of thing ». Sargent also talks about the reliability test that Moto2 imposes on its engines: “ I honestly think there is no other class in motorcycle racing where you have the opportunity – but also the risk! – to be able to demonstrate that you can put a competitive racing engine together to be used by so many different drivers and teams, and thus prove its reliability ».
He finishes : " all this helps in the development of the road motorcycle. It's also the same team that makes both the production machine and the Moto2 engines. We do not operate a separate racing department. This means that much of what we learn not only helps us think about where we want to take the Moto2 engine, but also what we can bring to the standard Street Triple ". So there's nothing like the competition field to test your skills and your bikes. No offense to Suzuki.
