Jorge Lorenzo & Ben Spies - Photo Credit: Yamaha Factory Racing
Yamaha Factory Racing have lifted the covers on their newly liveried YZR-M1 on the eve of the final-pre-season test at Jerez. Still without a title sponsor, the bike remains blue but carries a striking new look, with the blue and white livery similar to the red and white 50th anniversary design used on occasions last year.
Former World Champion Jorge Lorenzo is a fan of the new look and thinks it will have the speed to go with its appearance.
“It's very exciting to be here so close to the first race. I love the new livery and Yamaha's hard work has given us a very competitive bike to fight with this season. It's good to be here at a different track to test against our competitors before we start next month. It was a pleasure to see so many of our MotoGP media friends here to take part in the launch, nice to see so many take their picture with my bike!”
Teammate Ben Spies also likes the 2012 livery and expects the new 1000cc machine to provide some spectacular action.
“I'm loving the new bike, man it's great to be back on a 1000cc machine! The riding style is much closer to my natural way of riding which makes it a lot more fun. The colours look great so I'm ready to get out there tomorrow for our final shakedown before Qatar.”
The team will have three more days to prepare the bike for Qatar this weekend with an official test at Jerez and Yamaha Motor Racing's Managing Director, Lin Jarvis, hopes to build on the strong form shown at Sepang.
“Firstly I'd just like to say a big thank you to all of the media that turned out here for our press conference at Jerez today. For us it was a pleasure to see so many of the media here showing attention and focus on the new MotoGP season which is only two and a half weeks away. We were delighted to be able to unveil our new bike, new colours and new pit garage and hospitality. We've made a major refreshment of all our materials for this year and we're very excited to be at what we consider today to be the start of the season. It'll be very interesting to see what happens over the next couple of days at this test, having had two successful tests at Sepang we've moved to a new circuit with new demands. We're quietly confident our bike will perform well here, then after this it's flat out and ready to go for the first race in Qatar!”
