Moto2: Kalex expands at Suter's expense

By Lisa Crouch

German manufacturer Kalex looks set to be rewarded for winning the 2011 Moto2 Riders' title by having the largest chassis representation on the 2012 grid.

Kalex is expected to increase its Moto2 presence from four to nine riders, as it appears that fielding the championships winning chassis for Stefan Bradl has left them in high demand, supplying nine of next year's grid, up from just four this year.

Many of the new arrivals are from Suter, despite the Swiss firm winning both Moto2 constructors' titles and claiming more wins than any other manufacturer since the four-stroke class replaced 250cc at the start of 2010.

However a Suter rider is yet to win the Moto2 title, losing out to Toni Elias (Moriwaki) in 2010 and Bradl (Kalex) this time around.

Those switch from Suter runs deeper than the success of one man however, with Suter being accused last season of showing too much favouritism to rookie star and eventual championship runner-up Marc Marquez.

For Suter to place so much belief in one rider is understandable, Marquez is capable of strong results, comes with hefty Spanish financial backing and a fan base so large he had a fan club while still in the 125cc class.

Yet while others complained throughout the season of chatter and losing rear grip, Marquez received 2012 prototype parts mid-season which instantly improved these issues with a new swing arm and revised frame which made him noticeably quicker.

The bigger issue was that these parts took longer to reach the other Suter teams, most notably Marc VDS which first commented on the use of the prototype parts in testing and the advantage they seemed to give and is one of the teams heading for Kalex in 2012.

The increasing workload at Suter is also notable, with a BMW-powered CRT project for Forward Racing to make its MotoGP debut in 2012 and a Moto3 project in the pipeline.

Kalex are also expanding, but not on such a grand scale. This increase is not just from Moto2, but also from the German builder's association with KTM in the new Moto3 class.

FTR (winless in 2011) will continue as the other main chassis manufacturer for Moto2 and look to be building for eight bikes. They will also be preoccupied with work for the MotoGP class with their confirmed involvement with BQR and Gresini Honda's CRT efforts. The British-based company will also be working in the Moto3 class.

The remainder of the grid will be supplied by Moriwaki (who did not see the same level of take up on their chassis after helping Elias to victory and will supply just Gresini and the QMMF team) Motobi (who will support just the JiR team) and Tech3 (who are reducing their presence from three riders to two to allow for work on their Moto2 bikes and the development of a 2013 CRT MotoGP machine).