EXCL: Ian Kimber talks Triumph’s plans for MXGP and British MX

Image: Nigel McKinstry | Words: Andy McKinstry

We recently caught up with Ian Kimber who is the Head of Global Racing Programmes at Triumph Racing who was kind enough to give us an update on Triumph’s future with regards MXGP and the British Championship.

We are likely to see Triumph take on the British Championship in 2025 but not only that, the brand are keen to take on national race in other countries. With regards MXGP, the current GP setup are expected to run three riders in 2026 – one of those will be a 450cc rider.

Kimber give us the following updates…

On expanding their current setup in Europe to focusing on more than just the MX2 World Championship series… 

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Yeah for sure, I mean we’re always going to look to expand our racing programme from where we are at the moment and make sure that we’re representing the brand and the bikes in the right way. So next year we’ll carry on concentrating on our MX2 programme, build it out, make sure it’s solid. 2026 is the aim for developing to roll into MXGP and the same for 450’s in the States. Next year we’ll run on both coasts in the States and when we feel is the appropriate point we’ll spread that out to factory teams running in EMX250.

On wanting to also focus on National championships…

I think the other thing we’ll concentrate on is starting to concentrate on national championships as well. Obviously these series are great, they do it at the high level but what we need to do is get it into the grassroots of the sport so people can see it, touch it, smell it you know and really get hands on with the bike.

When asked, Kimber admits it’s likely we’ll see Triumph in the British Championship paddock in 2025… 

Yeah, I reckon we’ll have a team in the British Championship next year.

On the MXGP plans moving forward… 

We’re still working through the plan at the moment. Likelihood is we’ll start with one MXGP rider and run two MX2 GP riders. Three riders within the tent is probably okay but longer term we’ll see how that expands and how it plans out. What we do know is that Vince and his team can run an incredible team and they can develop the bike to the right standards. We don’t want to compromise that with necessarily partnering with someone who wouldn’t do the right thing so we’ll walk before we can run.

You can watch the entire interview with Kimber, below: