Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team launches 2016 campaign in Barcelona

Today the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team lifted the suspense for racing fans the world over waiting for the kick off of the 2016 season. The Italian-based team gathered in Barcelona today to officially launch their 2016 campaign to defend last year‘s MotoGP Triple Crown victory. Though the team has been on ’winter-break‘ since the Valencia test in November 2015, they have not been idle.

The Yamaha engineers carried through extensive development of the YZR-M1 all through the winter and the same dedication was given by the Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo and Italian rider Valentino Rossi whilst completing thorough training to be ready for the next season. The results are undeniable; this year a terrific team is formed again, ready to prove that they are the best in the world.

Similar to the continuation of the rider line up, the team‘s sponsors also remained the same. For the third year in a row the Yamaha Factory Racing Team and Spanish company Telefónica form a strong partnership ready to oppose the competition in the premier class of road racing. Their present five-year collaboration started in 2014 and has proven to be a recipe for success, making Telefónica‘s headquarters the perfect venue to unveil the 2016 livery for Lorenzo and Rossi‘s YZR-M1s.

Five-time World Champion Lorenzo had a challenging start to the 2015 season but turned his fortunes around after the fourth round in Jerez, which he led from start to finish. Once he returned to winning form, he became unstoppable and duplicated his dominating win at the following three rounds, breaking the record for leading most consecutive laps.

Back in the game, he chased his teammate, who was leading the standings, to arrive at Silverstone in joint first place. The duel for the title between the teammates would last until the very last lap of the final round in Valencia; in the end it was Lorenzo who got to lift the Championship trophy with his seventh win of the season.

Jorge Lorenzo
“Revealing the bike and the team is always a very special occasion. After the winter break it‘s nice to greet the team again and it‘s almost as if we never had a stop between the seasons at all; everything falls right back into place. The revealing of the bike is something I‘ve looked forward too for many weeks. After my strong performance last year I‘m very motivated and I‘m itching to get back aboard my YZR-M1.
I really love the 2016 livery and I can‘t wait to put the YZR-M1 to action. With a new season come new challenges and I am sure we can overcome all trials that will come our way. I have spent a big part of the winter break training to be a 100 per cent prepared to defend the MotoGP World Championship Title. Last year our package was very strong and we broke and equaled many records. We also got to climb on many podiums and I am certain we will see plenty more of that this season. Last year may have been a year with some ups and downs for me, but this has allowed me to learn to keep fighting until the end and I think we can use it to our benefit this year. Bring on the first test in Sepang!”

Source: Yamaha Racing