Moto2: Triumph, new ECU set for first test

'With the Magneti Marelli ECU we're going to run - it's not confirmed - but about 14,000rpm'

29 May 2018

Moto2 chassis manufacturers will get their first taste of how the 2019 Triumph engine will perform with the new, more advanced, Magneti Marelli ECU during an upcoming test at Aragon.

While Kalex is known to have conducted initial chassis tests using a standard road version of the 765cc Triumph three-cylinder, upgraded engines - comparable with the official 2019 race version - will be provided for the ECU debut at Aragon.

These interim engines have been modified by Externpro, which prepares the existing 600cc Honda powerplants and will do the same during the Triumph Moto2 era.

The conversion upgrade is needed due to the extra rpm that will be unleashed by the new ECU. The Magneti Marelli system will also (eventually) allow riders to learn some of the electronic controls used in the company's MotoGP ECU.

"On the 19th of June we have the first sort of official roll-out with the engines, chassis manufacturers and ECU at Aragon," MotoGP Technical Director Danny Aldridge told Crash.net.

"We will give them an upgraded [Triumph] engine. We have a conversion kit, which will bring it up to [Moto2] spec.

"It's not the official 2019 engine, but it's up to the same spec as the official engine will be.

"The standard Triumph engine only runs to 12,400rpm. But with the Magneti Marelli ECU we're going to run - it's not confirmed - but about 14,000rpm. So we don't want to give them the new ECU to test and then blow up the standard [road] engines!

"With the Honda engine [which uses a standard ECU] it was not a problem, but now they have to use our [new Magneti Marelli] ECU.

"So Trevor [Morris] from Externpro is supplying a conversion kit. The production engines were sent to Externpro and they've converted them so they can run the new ECU at the Aragon test and then the chassis manufacturers can carry on testing with the new ECU for the rest of the year.

"There will be very little difference in the performance of the 'converted' engines and the official 2019 Moto2 engine."

The final spec 2019 Triumph race engines are then scheduled to make an official track debut at the end of November.

"We will have a test on November 21, 22 and 23 in Jerez - with all the teams - and that will be with the official 2019 engines," Aldridge confirmed.