Yamaha MotoGP officially took the wraps off their 2011 effort with a press conference today at Sepang ahead of the second pre-season official tests, and as widely expected they will be running corporate blue livery and winging it with no title sponsor, having been unable so far to find a new title sponsor to replace Fiat (even if they’re keeping a stiff upper chin and waxing positive about the situation).
The 2011 YZR-M1 was naturally presented by reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo (is his hairline receding?), and new team-mate Ben Spies.
“I’m proud to be here for the 2011 Yamaha Factory Racing launch and the start of a new era for the team,” said Lin Jarvis, Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing Srl.
“This is an important year for us being our 50th anniversary of involvement in Grand Prix racing and we start the season not only with the reigning MotoGP World Champion but also welcoming Ben Spies, last year’s Rookie of the Year to the Factory Team.
It’s fitting that we will line up for the start of this special year in our corporate colours.
” “I’m very happy to be here again preparing to start another season riding with Yamaha.
Winning the World Championship last season was an incredible feeling, but now we start again.
I have a great crew and with the hard work of the Japanese engineers over the winter I feel confident we can fight for more success this year,” said Jorge Lorenzo.
While Ben Spies said, “We worked really hard last year to earn the seat with the Yamaha Factory team so it’s a great feeling to be here alongside Jorge.
It’s obviously a special year for Yamaha with the 50th Anniversary of GP racing celebrations so I’m really thrilled to be part of it.
The bike’s feeling really good, we’ve got a few days more of testing now to really shake it down and fine tune the set up and we’ll be ready to go.
I’m loving the corporate blue colour scheme, I’m a big fan of the design.
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