Alex Marquez before the start in Barcelona 2019 with the most original of all sponsors in the person of beer billionaire Marc van der Straten. Unfortunately, there are far too few people like the Belgians who live in Switzerland in sport. Marc Marquez’s younger brother drove to the Moto2 title in his team, which was by a thin thread towards the end of the season.

About MotoGP fraudulent labeling and the Kalex dominance in Moto2

The almost overwhelming dominance of Kalex in Moto2 indirectly led to KTM’s exit from the middle class. It wasn’t just that the Oranges started with a bad design in their 3rd year in Moto2. Rather, they had focused too much on MotoGP. This did not change the lack of success in the 2019 season and in the middle of the year the bad news came of Johann Zarco’s voluntary departure. Ironically, at the home GP of the Austrians in Spielberg, the second sporting low blow came right away. The irony of fate followed and Brad Binder won his first Grand Prix after the announcement that KTM would withdraw from Moto2 at the end of the season! In the end, the South African missed the title by just a few points.

Brad Binder (KTM) in his crash on the second Jerez weekend in 2020 – the Moto2 runner-up in the first season in the premier class did not go as planned. Shortly before this shot was taken, he had eliminated his brand colleague Oliveira in the first corner.

Ready to retire instead of ready to race
The KTM slogan on their bodies, as they are called in the Alpine republic, was suddenly worthless. That was no longer “ready to race”, but rather “ready to retire”, which was practiced here. Before entering the middle class, KTM boss Pierer praised himself in public for how ingenious his concept was. To say goodbye three years later, quietly and quietly, was an indictment against this background. Critical observers attributed KTM’s successes in 2020 to the Oranges’ test lead when it comes to MotoGP. And there is now a gap in Moto2 that is causing concern.

Dominique Aegerter 2020 at the NTS as a substitute driver for his Swiss compatriot Jesko Raffin, who is in poor health. The points average of the WorldSSP 600 newcomer for the coming season was better than that of Stefano Manzi (Forward MV) and NTS regular driver Bo Bendsneyder. The latter recently started from the front row at the season opener in Losail in order to correctly classify the driving performance of “Domi-Fighter”, the 2014 Sachsenring winner!

The fraudulent labeling in MotoGP is confusing

The fact that Gresini Aprilia, a camouflaged factory team from Noale, is at the start in MotoGP is confusing in itself. However, it gets much more blatant when you consider how things go in Moto3. Here all the commentators keep telling about 4 brands that are supposed to be racing. But in truth there are still two. A KTM that has been renamed and repainted as Husqvarna has been on the road since 2020 and the same game happened with GasGas a year later. This is also a renamed motorcycle from Austria. Because the subsidiary brands belonging to their group are to gain more popularity, the public and viewers are being fooled a little.

Moto3 Grand Prix in Le Mans in October 2020 – both Husqvarna after a collision on the ground, whereby we already called the bikes “Husky-KTM” for better understanding. It’s no secret that no screw comes from Sweden, let alone from Husqvarna, which are usually not built there anyway.

Also disturbing tendencies in Moto2
Lately the Speed ​​Up has been driving as Boscoscuro, no normal observer really knows what this is all about. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg, because KTM has been doing it even more colorfully since 2020. The Austrians have been competing in Moto2 as the Red Bull KTM Ajo Team since last year. But the KTM in the team name is a pure fraudulent label because it is one-to-one a Kalex, like most of its competitors. Whether Speed ​​Up or Boscoscuro is the only remaining halfway serious competitor is completely irrelevant. With Forward MV there is also a competitor at the start who has zero points after 2 laps. Nobody will claim that it is up to the driver in the person of Lorenzo Baldassari, for example, with 5 Moto2 Grand Prix victories so far. Dorna does not seem to be interested in taking action against the overwhelming dominance of Kalex. So the uniformity goes on and the small manufacturers will soon disappear, a shame for sport and competition!

Lorenzo Baldassari photographed by us in the 2019 season on Flexbox HP 40. As World Championship leader after 5 laps, the Italian, like Tom Lüthi and Marcel Schrötter, had huge problems after the introduction of new and wider uniform tires. He was never able to match the successes of the first races and switched to Forward MV at the end of the 2021 season, where he has no chance against opponents equipped with Kalex. Despite the Kalex chassis, the German and the Swiss never found their way back to their old form, although Schrötter is likely to be expected again soon.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).