Thread: Yamaha debutes 2010 YZR-M1!

Yamaha has unveiled its 2010 YZR-R1 MotoGP contender and the livery that Valentino Rossi will carry as he defends his world championship this season.

The new bike was displayed just before pre-season testing began at Sepang this morning, and was revealed in an online broadcast as well as being shown to the media in Malaysia. Jorge Lorenzo will remain as Rossi's team-mate in the factory line-up.

Team boss Davide Brivio said the main changes for 2010 involved the engine, with MotoGP adopting long-life engine regulations this season as it follows Formula 1's cost cutting trend.

"The work has been concentrated in two main points, first of all the chassis, to improve even further the characteristics of our machine and especially on the engine, due to the new technical regulation," Brivio said.

"Next year we will have only six engines for the whole season and this means that the engine must have a longer mileage, and this is where our engineers have concentrated most of their energies.

"The engine has to remain fast with good performance but must have longer mileage and this is not easy. The season will tell us if we have done a good job."

Last year Yamaha took Ben Spies to the Superbike world title as well as successfully defending its MotoGP crown with Rossi. The company's racing chief Lin Jarvis is keen to hang on to both championships this year, when Spies moves to MotoGP with Tech 3 - swapping seats with James Toseland, who returns to Superbikes to aim for a third title.

"2009 was the most successful year for Yamaha's racing activities for many years," Jarvis said. "It will be difficult to repeat such a performance but we are intending to try.

"We are fortunate to have the same fantastic rider line-up with Valentino and Jorge and we are looking forward to getting started with our work on track."

He added that racing was still vitally important to Yamaha despite the pressures on expenditure in the current financial climate.

"Of course, Yamaha has not been able to escape the difficulties caused by the global economic situation but MotoGP forms an important part of the company's recovery plan," Jarvis said.

"The MotoGP programme is a very important brand image promotion activity and the racing requires us to demonstrate all of our company's power in engineering, organisation and passion if we are to be successful at the top level."

I already haz one. Arnold Palmers brother gave it to me.