Submitted by David Emmett on
The provisional rider line up for the Moto2 class has been published for the 2018 season. The class is as popular as ever, with 33 riders entered to race for the season. With the arrival of NTS, who will be racing in collaboration with the RW Racing team, there are now 6 manufacturers in the grid: KTM, Kalex, Suter, NTS, Tech 3, and Speed Up. Kalex still dominates, with 19 bikes, but KTM has stepped up its program to a total of 6 bikes, the others all fielding two riders apiece.
As in Moto3, Italian and Spanish riders dominate, with 9 Italians and 7 Spaniards on the grid. But the field will have riders with 14 different nationalities on the grid.
The provisional Moto2 rider line up is below:
| No. | Rider | Nationality | Team | Bike |
| 4 | Steven Odendaal | S-African | RW Racing NTS | NTS |
| 5 | Andrea Locatelli | Italian | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex |
| 7 | Lorenzo Baldassari | Italian | Pons HP40 | Kalex |
| 9 | Jorge Navarro | Spanish | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex |
| 10 | Luca Marini | Italian | Sky Racing Team VR46 | Kalex |
| 11 | Sandro Cortese | German | Kiefer Racing | KTM |
| 13 | Romano Fenati | Italian | Marinelli Rivacold Snipers | Kalex |
| 16 | Joe Roberts | USA | RW Racing NTS | NTS |
| 20 | Fabio Quartararo | French | Speed Up Racing | Speed Up |
| 21 | Federico Fuligni | Italian | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | Kalex |
| 22 | Sam Lowes | British | Cgbm Evolution | KTM |
| 23 | Marcel Schrötter | German | Dynavolt Intact NTS | Suter |
| 24 | Simone Corsi | Italian | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | Kalex |
| 27 | Iker Lecuona | Spanish | Cgbm Evolution | KTM |
| 32 | Isaac Viñales | Spanish | SAG Team | Kalex |
| 36 | Joan Mir | Spanish | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex |
| 40 | Hector Barbera | Spanish | Pons HP40 | Kalex |
| 41 | Brad Binder | S-African | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM |
| 42 | Francesco Bagnaia | Italian | Sky Racing Team VR46 | Kalex |
| 44 | Miguel Oliveira | Portuguese | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM |
| 45 | Tetsuta Nagashima | Japanese | Idemitsu Honda Team Asia | Kalex |
| 51 | Eric Granado | Brazilian | Forward Racing Team | Kalex |
| 52 | Danny Kent | British | Speed Up Racing | Speed Up |
| 54 | Mattia Pasini | Italian | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex |
| 55 | Hafizh Syahrin | Malaysian | Petronas Sprinta Racing | Kalex |
| 62 | Stefano Manzi | Italian | Forward Racing Team | Kalex |
| 64 | Bo Bendsneyder | Dutch | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 |
| 73 | Alex Marquez | Spanish | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex |
| 77 | Dominique Aegerter | Swiss | Kiefer Racing | KTM |
| 87 | Remy Gardner | Australian | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 |
| 89 | Khairul Idham Pawi | Malaysian | Idemitsu Honda Team Asia | Kalex |
| 95 | Jules Danilo | French | SAG Team | Kalex |
| 97 | Xavi Vierge | Spanish | Dynavolt Intact NTS | Suter |
Source:
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Comments
Kiefer Racing
Who is taking over the team and keeping it going?
X-Mas has come early to North America
USA has a full-time ride in Moto2. Good luck Joe Roberts!
NTS?
12 non-Kalexes hopefully the beginning of the end of the Kalex cup.
Interesting line up
Moto 2 has been quite good this year, and 2018 already looks even better. Fascinating mix of new talent up from Moto 3, some riders returning for the new season with useful experience behind them and/or a new ride and Lowes and Barbera back from Moto GP. Or will it be third time lucky for the returning Danny Kent? Can't wait to find out.
Good mix of youth & experience.
Interesting mix of nationalities & bikes for the last year of the CBR600/Kalex cup.
And Aussie Remy Gardner has a full time ride, I hope Remy gets some better results in 2018.
Hector Barbera & S.Lowes will be very keen to forge a future for themselves in gp racing, 2018 may be the last chance they get.
Best of luck to Joe Roberts I hope the new team stays together for all of the 2018 season.
Remember experience, cunning & treachery beats youth, skill & talent sometimes.
Quiet revolution
Some of the comments on here regarding the "Kalex Cup" bely the quiet revolution that has taken place in Moto2.
Results from the last few Grand Prix:
Australia: 5 different manufacturers in top 8
Sepang: 3 in top 8
Japan: 3 in top 3
Aragon: 4 in top 9 (3 in top 7)
Misano: 4 in top 7
4 different manufacturers have put a bike on the box this year, with a 5th doing so last year. The Kalex Cup comments are from a time that has quietly slipped away.
Moving up too fast?
Quartararo and Bendsneyder came into moto3 with glowing resumes, then moved up without (IMO) really accomplishing anything. Is this really good for their development? Q looked ok-ish in moto2 this year, but I still wonder.