The NGM Forward team was one of the first to take to the CRT category when an announcement regarding the same was made. It also took the credit for bringing a high profile rider like Colin Edwards into the sub category right in the first season and therefore was responsible for some credibility going to the CRT category. The team started their 2012 campaign with a Suter-BMW machine, one that had been originally developed by Marc VDS team and then abandoned. The chassis and engine combination proved to be a nightmare and no results were forthcoming. That saw them abandoning this machinery (which was then picked up Ioda Racing who ditched their own trellis frame that housed an Aprilia Superbike spec motor) and Forward went with the FTR-Kawasaki combination of frame and engine. This time around the results were slightly better.
Edwards on Forward’s Kawasaki engined FTR motorcycle.
However, with Honda and Yamaha coming to the rescue of the uncompetitive teams struggling with the CRT bikes, the picture changed. An open class came into being and Honda was willing to sell racers to teams at relatively inexpensive prices but without some of the cutting edge technology. Yamaha too jumped in with a different model where they agreed to lease engines to teams who then had to procure their own chassis. While three teams chose the Honda option (one in Gresini Honda for Scot Redding and two in Aspar for Nicky Hayden and Hiroshi Aoyama and a fourth motorcycle for Karel Abraham in the Cardion AB team) only Forward took up the offer made by Yamaha. It has been decided that Yamaha will not only give an engine but also a parts of a chassis such as swingarm and front steering head and clamps while the rest of the chassis will be developed for Forward by FTR. Forward has now announced that Colin Edwards will continue to ride in 2014 but Claudio Corti will be replaced by the CRT Champion Aleix Espargaro who decided to defect from Aspar. Next year could be quite interesting.