Moto2: Dixon joins Angel Nieto squad for 2019

Bennetts British Superbike front runner Jake Dixon will make the switch to Grand Prix racing for 2019, as he joins the Angel Nieto KTM team for next year’s radically different championship. First reported by MCN last week, the Brit’s experience as a Triumph test rider looks set to stand him in good stead as the series switches to British engines.

Dixon first made his Moto2 debut back in 2017, riding as a replacement for Marcel Schrotter in the Dynavolt Intact Kalex team at the British and Valencian Grand Prix. Thrown into the deep end with no testing, he finished 25^th at Silverstone but wasn’t able to race in Austria after injuring himself in practice.

He’ll make his first outing on the KTM Moto2 machine in November, when he joins the rest of the 2019 grid for an official pre-season test at Jerez following the final round of the 2018 season.

Speaking as the news was announced, Dixon said: “I want to say thank you to Jorge Martínez “Aspar” and the Ángel Nieto Team for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. This is a team with a lot of experience and several world titles behind them and I am looking forward to being part of a new project with the Ángel Nieto Team and KTM. The first season will be for gathering as much information as possible, learning as much as I can and then fighting for the championship after that. I’d also like to say thanks to RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki, my team for the past two seasons, for everything they have done for me and to everybody that has helped make it possible for me to make the step up to the Moto2 World Championship.”

Dixon goes into next weekend’s penultimate round of the BSB championship at Assen 31 points behind Leon Haslam and with five races left in the domestic series, the 22-year old still retains a chance of taking the title before heading to the MotoGP paddock.