Accompanied by Yamaha Motor Racing’s Managing Director Lin Jarvis, General Manager of Yamaha Motor Co.'s Motorsports Division Kouichi Tsuji and Luis Velo, Telefónica Spain’s Director of Media, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi revealed the new livery of their bikes at the Losail International Circuit.
Aside from the new colour scheme, the Yamaha YZR-M1 has shown great promise and speed during the pre-season tests in Malaysia and Australia, where both Lorenzo and Rossi were able to stay close to the fast Honda riders. Both riders will take to the track under the floodlights of the Losail circuit on Thursday to begin practice for the first round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship, the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar.
"As we were able to improve our performance at Phillip Island with the new tyres I feel quite confident for the very first race. I undertook three surgeries during the wintertime to take out some plates and metal pieces from the collarbone and the hand so I returned to full fitness quite late. In general I feel nearly at 100% and I guess in Qatar we won’t have any problems to push to the maximum."
The championship is going to be even tighter than last season was and at the beginning just Márquez begins as the favorite contender. Afterwards I guess Dani or me are in a good position but also Valentino who is even hungrier than in 2013. Regarding Marc’s pace we should wait before saying anything about it. He is so strong and quick. Maybe he won't start at a perfect level but I’m pretty sure he is going to be close to 100%."
"This 2014 season is going to be exciting and thrilling. I start in a very good position, filled with positive energy and optimism. The bike with the new changes is working really well and we solved the little problem of the engine, fixing the electronics in order to mitigate the aggressive behavior on the starts. Now it's response is softer than at the beginning of the season in Malaysia and also we can count on a "complete" seamless gearbox, that is also a good news for us."
"I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, following the unveiling of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery. I love the new bike and the new colours. Posing with the new bike today has been the best incentive to kick-off the season!"
Valentino Rossi: "I’m so happy because we are finally here at the start of the
first race weekend of the year. We have worked very hard in the testing to make
some of my issues from last year better and we have found some really good
speed. I have been able to be very competitive and been with the fastest riders
during testing."
"I’m very happy with the work done to my M1 over the winter that has
helped me to be fast; we have a competitive bike to fight for the podium this
weekend. I have a great feeling with the bike and I can’t wait to start the
season tomorrow. Our competitors are also quite fast and so I think there are
going to be some very exciting races."
"I am really looking forward to some great
battles and fighting for the podium! When I received the news of the arrival of Movistar, I was very happy. It
is a great thing to start the year with such a fantastic sponsorship
announcement. We must all be very happy for that. Yamaha are very excited, and
I am as well. I hope that Movistar will enjoy the journey with us this year and
bring luck and podiums!"
"Surely it is a greater incentive to do even better. As
for the bike and the new livery, I like it a lot. It’s really nice, really racing!. We start the season in the best possible way, showing our fans
a beautiful livery. Now we must do our best to collect good results on
track!"
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