Fantic, what a Moto2 season! First team title and a historic 3rd for Baltus. And Arbolino joins in 2026

The 2025 World Championship has just wrapped up, and there are plenty of reasons to celebrate for various riders, manufacturers, and teams. In the latter case, Fantic Racing has just claimed its first team world title in Moto2, a story that began only in 2023 but has seen the team become increasingly prominent in the class. History was also written with Barry Baltus, who has grown exponentially this season and earned a world bronze medal: it had been decades since a Belgian rider achieved that! And next year brings a half-change: with Aron Canet departing, here comes Tony Arbolino, who leaves Pramac Yamaha and Boscoscuro (with which he unfortunately completed his worst Moto2 season) to return to KALEX, the bike he has ridden throughout his career in the intermediate class of the World Championship.

A whopping 42 years: over four decades since the last time a Belgian rider stood on a world championship podium, considering virtually all categories. In this case there’s a direct link to the intermediate class, as we’re talking about the old 250cc. It was 1983: Didier de Radiguès, riding a Chevallier-Yamaha (a blisteringly fast French hand-built machine by Alain Chevallier, 2nd in the constructors’ standings), recorded one win and three more podiums in 11 GPs, thus taking third in the world behind Venezuelan champion Carlos Lavado (Yamaha) and Frenchman Christian Sarron (Yamaha). It took quite a while to find his heir in Barry Baltus this year, without wins but with 7 podiums in 22 GPs plus many other strong results, which allowed him to finish on the class podium with 232 points. An absolutely remarkable rise for the 21-year-old from Namur, whose best overall result until now had been 17th in the standings with 55 total points!

As mentioned, the Veneto brand’s entry into Moto2 (with KALEX bikes) dates back to the 2023 season. In such a short time, however, here comes the first team world title with one race to spare, thanks to the 24 total points scored by Barry Baltus and Aron Canet, which allow Fantic to mathematically seal the deal ahead of Intact GP (team of vice-champion Manuel Gonzalez), Aspar Team (featuring the hard-charging rookies Daniel Holgado and David Alonso) and Italtrans Racing (team of champion Diogo Moreira). They started with 10th place in the team standings in their debut year, with the line-up of Celestino Vietti and the late Borja Gomez, then 5th among teams with Aron Canet and Xavi Cardelus, and now comes the big result delivered with two riders in the top four, since alongside 3rd-placed Baltus there’s Canet, signing off with 4th in the world. A fine satisfaction for the Lombardy-Veneto brand, laying the groundwork to dream even bigger in 2025, starting with Barry Baltus.