We had already suspected it in our Moto2 season preview, but the extent of the first races in 2024 is surprising. The long-standing Moto2 dominators Kalex are not only threatened with losing their supremacy, they currently seem to have already been replaced. The Italian challenger Boscoscuro only has four bikes at the start, but has won four of the five races so far. In Le Mans they gave Kalex the maximum penalty.
Kalex: 204 races on the Moto2 podium end in Le Mans
In the Moto2 French GP, Sergio Garcia won ahead of Ai Ogura and Alonso Lopez. All three drive the Boscoscuro chassis. For the first time since Valencia 2012 (!), not a single Kalex machine made it onto the podium. The current Kalex spearhead Joe Roberts had to admit defeat in the duel with Lopez on the home straight. This ended a series of 204 Moto2 races in a row in which at least one Kalex machine was always on the podium. Most of the time there were even three of them.
This defeat must be particularly worrying for Kalex, as Fermin Aldeguer, the actual number one at Boscoscuro, didn’t have a good weekend and ‘only’ came seventh. However, there were more Boscoscuros than Kalex in the top 7. Or to be more precise: all boscoscuros. With the in-house team from Speed Up and the new customer team from MT-Helmets-MSI, Luca Boscoscuro’s company from Lugo di Vincenza in Veneto only provides four machines. For comparison: there are 24 (!) bikes from Kalex at the start.
And yet things are looking bad for Kalex. Only Aron Canet has so far been able to beat the Boscoscuros in his debut win in Portugal. The Italians lead the manufacturers’ standings with 113 points. The German company from Bobingen has 98 points in its account. The four Boscoscuros are all in the top 5 of the drivers’ standings. Only Joe Roberts breaks through their phalanx in second place.
Second team and strong drivers: Boscoscuro has upgraded
But why is that? Boscoscuro has certainly caught up technically, as they already won a total of 7 races in the previous two years with Lopez and Aldeguer. But the big step seems to have taken place in 2024. The expansion to a second team helped with setup work and understanding the new Pirelli tires. MT-Helmets-MSI is the successor to the long-standing top team of motorcycle legend Sito Pons. Luca Boscoscuro has secured a customer team with enormous experience and quality.
The second key is certainly to be found in the strong driver line-up. Fermin Aldeguer is considered a super talent at the latest after his four wins in a row at the end of the 2023 season. It is not for nothing that Ducati has already secured its services for MotoGP from 2025. Riding next to him is Alonso Lopez, a strong man who will hit Moto2 like a bomb in 2022. Ai Ogura was runner-up in the highest junior class that same year and is now building on these achievements again on a new bike. And with Sergio Garcia there is also the current World Cup leader. The young Spaniard already showed his potential as rookie of the year in 2023 and has now taken the next step in his development.
Top people on Kalex stumble: Joe Roberts as the only bright spot
On the Kalex side, however, there has been a (current) weakening in terms of driver quality. World champion Pedro Acosta moved up to MotoGP. Runner-up Tony Arbolino is completely out of shape. Jake Dixon, fourth in the 2023 World Cup, was injured in Qatar and has no points after three races. Aron Canet suffered a broken bone before the start of the home game in Jerez. Another potential top man, Celestino Vietti, is currently out with an injury. At Kalex, only Joe Roberts and occasionally Manuel Gonzalez remain as challengers to the Boscoscuro boys.
If the top people at Kalex don’t recover or recover soon, or if other drivers surprisingly improve, then Alex Baumgärtel & Co.’s company could face a really big loss in 2024. In the race for the driver’s title, Roberts seems to be the only one playing music. Aron Canet will probably have to struggle with the broken bone he suffered in Jerez for a while longer. Things aren’t looking much better in the constructors’ championship either. Kalex has won every title since 2013. The chances that this series will also break are currently more than there.