Yamaha reveals new colours

The Yamaha Factory Racing team has unveiled its new 2011 livery ahead of testing at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.

The 2011 YZR-M1, which will be ridden by defending champion Jorge Lorenzo and 2010 rookie of the year Ben Spies, features a Yamaha corporate blue colour scheme incorporating the iconic Yamaha speed block design.

The livery was unveiled at Sepang in a press conference ahead of the second pre-season test of the winter, with the team now aiming to try and defend the title it won last year in what is the 50th anniversary of Yamaha's involvement in Grand Prix racing.

"I'm very happy to be here again preparing to start another season riding with Yamaha," Lorenzo said as his bike carrying the #1 was revealed. "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."

Spies meanwhile, who moves over from the Tech 3 team to fill the void left by Valentino Rossi's departure to Ducati, said he was hopeful that the bike will go as well as it looks during the year ahead.

"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," he said. "It's obviously a special year for Yamaha with the 50th Anniversary of GP racing celebrations so I'm really stoked to be par t 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."

The decision to go with corporate colours may have been aided somewhat by the lack of a title sponsor to replace FIAT, who departed at the end of the 2010 season.