Alex Escrig on Forward: “I’d lost faith in this project!”

Alex Escrig has been putting in some impressive performances in the 2026 Moto2 season. Last weekend, he secured his first podium finish in the World Motorcycle Championship at Silverstone. After the race in the UK, he emphasised that he is confident he can be among the frontrunners in every race going forward.

Indeed, Escrig and the underdog team Forward Racing have taken a huge step forward this year. As early as the end of 2025, the Spaniard finished 8th, 12th and 13th in the final three races of the season. During pre-season testing at the start of this year, Escrig demonstrated impressive pace – he was regularly right up there at the front. The impression that progress had been made with the bike was also confirmed in the first races of the season. Escrig finished fourth at the second round in Brazil.

Alex Escrig: “In 2024, we had more of a bicycle than a motorbike”

This year, Forward is on a par with Kalex and Boscoscuro. However, the road there was long and rocky. “In 2024, we had more of a bicycle than a motorbike,” laughed Escrig after his first Moto2 podium. “The 2024 chassis was one of the worst I’ve ever ridden. I put the pressure on and told them what needed improving. They then made a few small changes. Last year, we were already getting closer to our goal. Towards the end of the year, once I’d found my confidence, the results started to come. I was in the top 10. In qualifying at Valencia, I was sixth. Last year’s bike was much better. This year, we’ve been able to make progress on a few details. It was also a good decision to change the suspension – that helped us a lot. The package is now very comfortable for me to ride – that’s why I’m now able to put in performances like this.”

As a reminder: for the 2026 Moto2 season, Forward Racing switched from Öhlins to the Austrian-made WP suspension.

Escrig is contesting his fourth season with Giovanni Cuzari’s Forward team in 2026. The mate of MotoGP star Pedro Acosta has faced many setbacks in recent years. Did he ever lose faith in the project? Or to put it another way: would he ever have thought he could get this far with Forward Racing? “In 2022, I was 18 years old. I said to myself back then: ‘A motorbike is a motorbike, and there’s no way it can be bad’. That’s what they told me too,” smiled the now 22-year-old. “It wasn’t too bad with the Dunlop tyres at first, but then I got injured during the first test and again in the second race. It was a tough year in which we couldn’t show our potential. It might have been a good year. In 2024, with the Pirelli tyres, and a few mistakes we made as a team, I had the worst year of my life. I wasn’t enjoying myself and didn’t understand the bike – I didn’t know what I was riding. The team didn’t understand what the bike needed to improve either. That year, we came to the conclusion that we should just focus on testing – to gain an understanding of what was required.”

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“The 2025 bike was good, but perhaps I wasn’t quite ready for it back then,” Escrig had to admit. “I’d lost faith in the project; I just wanted out. Last year, by the middle of the season, it was a mad situation – for me and the team. It was utter chaos. Once I started focusing on riding and on being competitive, we began to achieve some good results. This year, I just want to win on this bike. I think we can do it!”