FIRST LOOK: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo's new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP colours unveiled on eve of Qatar Grand Prix.
FIRST LOOK: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery

Yamaha unveiled its new Movistar colours for Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at Qatar on Wednesday, the eve of the season-opening MotoGP event.

Without a title sponsor since 2010, Yamaha has signed a lengthy five-year deal with the Spanish telecommunications giant.

Aside from the Movistar logos, a greater amount of blue on the upper front of the bike and a slightly larger Monster logo, the new Yamaha livery is not radically different from the previous version unveiled in Jakarta just before the start of pre-season testing.

"When I received the news of the arrival of Movistar, I was very happy," said Rossi, preparing to start his 15th season in the premier-class. "It is a great thing to start the year with such a fantastic sponsorship announcement. We must all be very happy for that. Yamaha are very excited, and I am as well. I hope that Movistar will enjoy the journey with us this year and bring luck and podiums!

"Surely it is a greater incentive to do even better. As for the bike and the new livery, I like it a lot. It's really nice, really 'racing!'. We start the season in the best possible way, showing our fans a beautiful livery. Now we must do our best to collect good results on track!"

Former double champion Lorenzo, winner of last year's Qatar round, added: "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, following the unveiling of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery. I love the new bike and the new colours. Posing with the new bike today has been the best incentive to kick-off the season!"

After winning the 2000 500cc crown with Kenny Roberts and Suzuki, Telefonica and its Movistar brand switched to Gresini Honda for 2003, bringing Sete Gibernau with them. Gibernau lost out on the MotoGP crown to Rossi in 2003 and 2004, with Gresini team-mate Marco Melandri finishing runner-up to Rossi in 2005.

Telefonica abruptly left MotoGP at the end of that season, apparently unhappy to have lost Dani Pedrosa to Repsol (Honda) just as its next Spanish star was stepping up to the premier-class.

Opening practice for the 2014 Qatar night race gets underway on Thursday evening. Yamaha's new Movistar livery was unveiled on the main straight at the Losail circuit on Wednesday afternoon.

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