The Torrens Trophy has been awarded to Triumph for 2024, for the British manufacturer’s supply of engines for the Moto2 World Championship which began in 2019.
Triumph receives the award one year after it was given to the late Mike Trimby for his work in improving conditions for riders in the World Championship. Previous winners also include British World Champions such as Tom Sykes, Jonathan Rea, and Emma Bristow.
Triumph will enter its sixth season of Moto2 World Championship competition in 2024, having taken over from Honda in 2019. Honda had supplied Moto2 engines from the series’ inaugural season in 2010, after the 250cc World Championship was terminated at the end of 2009.
Triumph’s first season, 2019, saw Alex Marquez emerge as champion, before Enea Bastianini took the 2020 title. In the years since, Moto2 has been dominated by the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, for whom Remy Gardner (2021), Augusto Fernandez (2022), and Pedro Acosta (2023) have won the intermediate crown.
Since 2021, Triumph has also supplied engines to the Moto2 European Championship, in which it has seen Fermin Aldeguer (2021), Lukas Tulovic (2022), and Senna Agius (2023) crowned champions.
Triumph’s arrival in Moto2 in 2019 has seen the continuation of Kalex as the dominant chassis manufacturer on the world stage. The German company has won all but two titles in Moto2 history (2010, when Moriwaki won with Tony Elias, and in 2012 when Marc Marquez won with Suter), and every title since 2013 when Pol Espargaro won. All five World Champions in the Triumph era have used Kalex frames, but change could be coming. The aforementioned Aldeguer, who won the European title with Speed Up in 2021, won the last four Moto2 Grands Prix of 2023 in comfortable fashion, and enters 2024 as a title favourite.
Another change for 2024 is the arrival of Pirelli as the sole tyre supplier, replacing Dunlop which has supplied Moto2 since its inception.
On the awarding of the Torrens Trophy to Triumph, former racer Barrie Baxter, Chairman of the Torrens Trophy Nominations Committee, said: “It gives us enormous pleasure to award the 2023 Torrens Trophy to Triumph for its amazing work in the Moto2TM World Championship, motorcycling’s number two grand prix series. The company has provided engines for the entire Moto2 grid for the past five seasons, proving to the world that its engineering and technology can thrive in arguably the toughest bike racing series of them all.”
Nick Bloor, Triumph Motorcycles CEO, added: “This award is a real honour, and a tribute to the hard work and passion of our Triumph Racing team. Our world-class engineers are always looking at new ways to enhance the engine performance, from speed, power and torque, to revs, cylinder pressure and compression ratio. This has enabled us to deliver improvements on track each season, from shorter race times to faster top speeds, which has contributed to closer, even more exciting, racing.
“Moto2 is also an excellent platform to showcase the durability, reliability and class-leading performance of our 765 triple engines on the road. Over the last five years we’ve used the race engine programme to drive enhancements and gain insights that we’ve used to further develop and evolve our new Street Triple 765 range, which has successfully driven demand and sales across the world. It’s a partnership that we are excited to be continuing until 2029.”
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