Jorge Lorenzo will race in this Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi with a special 'Lupin III' livery on his Fiat Yamaha M1.

Lupin III is a long running Japanese manga cartoon based on the exploits of the original 'gentleman thief' Arsene Lupin, created at the beginning of the 20th century by French novelist Maurice Leblanc.

The image of Lupin III, often seen aboard a Fiat 500 during his swashbuckling adventures, will be present on Lorenzo's Fiat Yamaha this weekend and also feature on a limited series of the 500 due to make its debut during the second half of 2009.

Fiat says the Lupin III livery 'is an example of Fiat Automobiles wish to reach out to motorbike racing fans through projects linked to the world of creativity and design so that it can communicate above all with younger members of its audience who by definition follow MotoGP with greater attention and delight.'

The Lupin III design is the second special livery created by Fiat this season - the first was worn by Valentino Rossi at Catalunya, to celebrate the Italian national football squad at the beginning of the European football championship.

A third special livery will be used at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix.

Valentino Rossi can win the 2008 MotoGP World Championship by finishing third or higher this weekend.