Forward Racing

Forward Racing is a motorcycle racing team currently active in the Moto2 World Championship and WorldWCR. The squad began in the MotoGP class under the name Hayate Racing Team, a reduced version of the factory Kawasaki team that pulled out of the championship during the Great Recession. The name Hayate comes from the Japanese word for hurricane. The team fielded a single Kawasaki ZX-RR bike, ridden by Marco Melandri.

Kawasaki stopped developing new parts for the motorcycle in March 2009, limiting its role to servicing and maintenance for the rest of that season. Despite this, Melandri scored an impressive second-place finish at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in May.

In 2010, the team moved to the new Moto2 class as Forward Racing, with Jules Cluzel and Claudio Corti riding Suter bikes. Cluzel won the British Grand Prix and finished seventh in the standings, while Corti took pole at the same race but managed a best result of ninth at Misano. The following year, the team fielded Cluzel and Alex Baldolini (later replaced by Raffaele De Rosa), with Cluzel’s fourth place at the British Grand Prix being the top result.

Forward returned to MotoGP in 2012 as a Claiming Rule Team, signing Colin Edwards and using a Suter chassis with a BMW engine. In Moto2 that year, the team hired Alex de Angelis and Yuki Takahashi, starting on Suter bikes before switching to FTR after six rounds; de Angelis won the Malaysian Grand Prix with the new chassis.

For 2013, Forward expanded its MotoGP effort to two riders, Claudio Corti and Colin Edwards, on FTR-Kawasaki bikes. The Moto2 lineup grew to four riders: Simone Corsi, Mattia Pasini, Alex de Angelis, and Ricard Cardús, all on Speed Up machines.

In 2014, the team again ran two MotoGP bikes for Colin Edwards and Aleix Espargaró. Using the new Open category rules, Forward planned to pair Yamaha-leased YZR-M1 engines with FTR frames but started the season with a complete Yamaha YZR-M1 package (engine, frame, and swingarm), with other parts from FTR. At Mugello, Edwards debuted a new Forward frame built by Harris Performance. Espargaró, sticking with the Yamaha frame, took pole at Assen and finished second at Aragon, ending seventh in the championship.

In Moto2, Forward scaled back to two riders, retaining Pasini and Corsi. They began with 2013-spec Kalex frames modified in-house and rebadged as Forward KLX, then switched to official Kalex bikes at round five. Corsi scored two podiums before a crash at Silverstone ended his season; he was replaced by Supersport World Championship rider Florian Marino.

For 2015, Forward renewed its partnership with Yamaha, planning two bikes with full YZR-M1 packages and dropping the in-house chassis project. New riders were Stefan Bradl and Loris Baz.

The Moto2 team ran two Kalex frames for Simone Corsi (returning from injury) and Lorenzo Baldassarri. Shortly after the German round, the team faced minor issues and announced they had released Bradl from his contract at his request. The team returned at Brno in both classes, with Claudio Corti replacing Bradl alongside Baz, Corsi, and Baldassarri.

In 2016, Forward left MotoGP but stayed in Moto2. On 11 September at the San Marino Grand Prix, Baldassarri took his first win, the team’s third ever in the World Championship. The team continued in Moto2 in 2017 with the same two riders.

In 2018, they used Suter bikes for Italian Stefano Manzi and Brazilian Eric Granado, without notable results. In 2019, Forward partnered with MV Agusta to field their F2 bike, with Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter and Manzi. The team finished eleventh in the Moto2 team championship, with best performances at the Dutch TT and the Valencian Community Grand Prix.

In 2020, Forward continued with MV Agusta, fielding Manzi and Simone Corsi. The team finished third in the team standings, and Manzi earned his first career pole at the Valencian Community Grand Prix. For 2021, Lorenzo Baldassarri joined Corsi. Both riders missed races and were replaced at times, and the team ended fourteenth in the standings, with another pole—again in Valencia—by Corsi.

In 2022, Corsi started his third straight year with the team, alongside Marcos Ramírez. The season was below expectations, with Ramírez scoring five points. Corsi, after over three hundred Grand Prix starts, retired.

In January 2023, the collaboration with MV Agusta ended. The team originally planned to use a Kalex prototype branded as Forward but instead kept the MV Agusta chassis, rebranding it as Forward.

Regular riders were Ramírez and Álex Escrig. The first points of the season came at the Indian Grand Prix with replacement rider Sean Dylan Kelly. The team finished third and last in the constructors championship with just four points.

In 2024, Forward debuted in MotoE and the inaugural WorldWCR season. In Moto2, Escrig was joined by Xavier Artigas, making his category debut. The team also moved away from the MV Agusta-based machine from 2023 to build their own chassis, marking their return as a chassis constructor.