Movistar Yamaha debuts 2016 YZR-M1 In Barcelona
Rennie Scaysbrook | January 18, 2016
Defending MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and teammate Valentino Rossi took the covers off their new 2016 Movistar Yamaha machines at the annual team launch in Barcelona on Monday January 18.
Once again presented in Movistar colors, the bikes look almost identical to the machines the team and riders secured the triple crown (team, manufacturer and rider) in 2015, although much has been changed underneath, with 17-inch Michelin tires replacing the 16.5-inch units from Bridgestone, and the control ECU that comes into effect this season.
The new machine will debut at the Sepang test on February 1 with the fuel tank mounted under the seat in an effort to find the optimum weight distribution to match the new Michelins. Rossi himself believes that due to the intense nature of the championship last year – one in which he and teammate Lorenzo were the only ones in the title chase – Yamaha is now “a little behind” the likes of Honda and Ducati, who have already tested the new Michelin tires and control ECU together at Valencia and Misano last year.
“The situation is that Yamaha did the new tank and bike to try and understand how to use the Michelins that we used from 2008,” Rossi said. “Moving the weight distribution for the Michelin tyre. But they don’t know, like us. It was just one idea. Now for the first test in Sepang it will be very, very important to decide the way, to see if the 2016 prototype is better than our correct bike.”
