Italian Moto3 bike breaks cover

This the new Ioda Racing project, the first bike being prepped for the new Moto3 four-stroke series in 2012 to break cover in public in Estoril last weekend.

The prototype TR 001 features a 250cc single-cylinder TM Racing engine with a current power of 40bhp.

The bike will be tested throughout 2011 and has been given permission to compete in next season’s Italian 125cc series to speed up development.

The plan is to race the bike in the inaugural Moto3 series, which will replace the current two-stroke 125cc world championship class in 2012, as was exclusively revealed by MCN earlier this year.

The project is being headed by Giampiero Sacchi, the man who gave Valentino Rossi his world championship break in 1996 and he said: “We have to work hard to prepare this engine further and we expect to have a bike which is competitive and not expensive.”

Honda and KTM are working on Moto3 projects while Lambretta are also supposedly considering developing a new machine.