RW Racing GP is a motorcycle racing team founded by businessman Roelof Waninge from The Netherlands. The team competes in the Moto2 World Championship.

RW Racing GP
2025 nameRW-Idrofoglia Racing GP
BaseDwingeloo, Netherlands
PrincipalJarno Janssen
Rider(s)Moto2:
22. Ayumu Sasaki
84. Zonta van den Goorbergh
MotorcycleKalex Moto2
TyresPirelli
Riders' Championships

History

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Roelof Waninge, was owner of a Dutch network of commercial vehicle dealerships and workshops headquartered in Assen, originally invested in motorcycle racing in 1993 as a personal sponsor of Dutch rider Jarno Janssen,[1] who would go on to become RW's team principal after his riding career. In 2011, the long-standing Dutch 125 cc and 250 cc team owned by Arie Molenaar experienced financial trouble, prompting Waninge to purchase the remaining assets of the team and rename it RW Racing GP.[2]

125 cc/Moto3

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The team began competing in 2011, taking over the existing 125 cc programme from Molenaar, using Aprilia machinery and retaining upcoming Spanish rider Luis Salom. In 2012 with the replacement of the 125 cc class by the new four-stroke Moto3 regulations, the team switched to Kalex-KTM machines, retaining Salom and adding South African rider Brad Binder. Salom finished the season in 2nd place with 2 wins and 8 podiums. In 2013, former Molenaar team rider Jarno Janssen, who had continued with the team and subsequently with RW in various technical roles after retirement as a racer, was named general team manager. 2014 would prove to be the team's worst season to date, with both riders Scott Deroue and Ana Carrasco failing to score a single point. 2015 saw a major change for the team, with a switch to Honda machinery and a reduction to a single rider, Livio Loi. Loi managed a win in 2015 at Indianapolis that season, but managed only one other top 10 finish with a 5th place at Silverstone Circuit. For the 2016 season, RW continued with Loi with similar overall results.[2]

Moto2

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2017 saw another major step for the RW Racing GP team, as they moved up to Moto2 with Spanish rider Axel Pons on Kalex machinery.[2]

For the 2018 season, RW joined forces with Japanese chassis manufacturer NTS to operate their factory programme as the sole users of the NTS chassis, expanding their programme to two riders. Despite NTS's relatively quick success in the previous two seasons of the CEV Moto2 European Championship, the challenge of the Moto2 World Championship proved difficult with RW finishing 16th and 15th from 18 teams in 2018 and 2019.[2] Fortunes did not improve in 2020, finishing 14th of 15 teams on 22 points. For 2021, the team signed former Tech3 MotoGP rider Hafizh Syahrin and young Belgian rider Barry Baltus. The team scored just 11 points and finished last of all teams.

For 2022, the team ended their difficult partnership with NTS after four seasons, and returned to the series-dominant Kalex machines.[3] They kept Barry Baltus onboard, with the Belgian now being paired up with the 16 year old Dutchman Zonta van den Goorbergh.

In 2023, Fieten Olie is the main sponsor of this team.[4]

Results

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Year Class Team name Motorcycle No. Riders Races Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points Pos.
2011 125cc RW Racing GP Aprilia RSA 125 39   Luis Salom 15 0 2 0 0 116 8th
14   Brad Binder 1 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2012 Moto3 RW Racing GP Kalex-KTM 39   Luis Salom 17 2 8 0 1 214 2nd
41   Brad Binder 17 0 0 0 0 24 21st
2013 Moto3

RW Racing GP

Redox RW Racing GP

Kalex-KTM 53   Jasper Iwema 17 0 0 0 0 8 24th
84   Jakub Kornfeil 17 0 0 0 0 68 11th
2014 Moto3 RW Racing GP Kalex-KTM 9   Scott Deroue 18 0 0 0 0 0 NC
22   Ana Carrasco 14 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2015 Moto3 RW Racing GP Honda NSF250RW 11   Livio Loi 18 1 1 0 0 56 16th
2016 Moto3 RW Racing GP Honda NSF250RW 11   Livio Loi 18 0 0 0 1 63 18th
2017 Moto2 RW Racing GP Kalex Moto2 49   Axel Pons 18 0 0 0 0 27 19th
2018 Moto2 NTS RW Racing GP NTS NH6 4   Steven Odendaal 18 0 0 0 0 4 28th
16   Joe Roberts 18 0 0 0 0 5 27th
2019 Moto2 NTS RW Racing GP NTS NH7 4   Steven Odendaal 9 0 0 0 0 0 31st
64   Bo Bendsneyder 19 0 0 0 0 7 26th
2   Jesko Raffin 7 (8) 0 0 0 0 6 27th
24   Simone Corsi 2 (11) 0 0 0 0 0 (10) 24th
70   Tommaso Marcon 1 0 0 0 0 0 40th
2020 Moto2 NTS RW Racing GP NTS NH7 2   Jesko Raffin 3 0 0 0 0 0 33rd
64   Bo Bendsneyder 15 0 0 0 0 18 23rd
77   Dominique Aegerter 4 (5) 0 0 0 0 4 28th
74   Piotr Biesiekirski 7 0 0 0 0 0 32nd
2021 Moto2 NTS RW Racing GP NTS NH7 55   Hafizh Syahrin 17 0 0 0 0 9 28th
70   Barry Baltus 14 0 0 0 0 2 32nd
89   Fraser Rogers 1 0 0 0 0 0 38th
32   Taiga Hada 1 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 39th
10   Tommaso Marcon 1 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 35th
2022 Moto2 RW Racing GP Kalex Moto2 7   Barry Baltus 16 0 0 0 0 30 21st
84   Zonta van den Goorbergh 18 0 0 0 0 0 34th
11   Mattia Pasini 1 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 33rd
2023 Moto2 Fieten Olie Racing GP Kalex Moto2 7   Barry Baltus 19 0 0 0 0 55 17th
84   Zonta van den Goorbergh 20 0 0 0 0 17 23rd
34   Mattia Pasini 2 0 0 0 0 11 25th
NTS NH7 45   Héctor Garzó 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2024 Moto2 RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP Kalex Moto2 7   Barry Baltus 19 0 1 0 0 40* 21st*
84   Zonta van den Goorbergh 19 0 0 0 0 31* 22nd*
Key
Regular rider
Replacement rider
Wildcard rider
Replacement/wildcard rider
Notes

* Season still in progress.

References

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  1. ^ "Roelof Waninge - RW Racing GP". RWRacingGP.com. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "History - RW Racing GP". RWRacingGP.com. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  3. ^ Wiesinger, Günther (12 November 2021). "Überraschung: RW Racing steigt von NTS auf Kalex um" [Surprise: RW Racing switches from NTS to Kalex]. SpeedWeek.com (in German). Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Fieten Olie Racing GP continues hopeful collaboration with Baltus and van den Goorbergh - RW Racing". 25 February 2023.
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