italiaspeed.com: FIAT YAMAHA TEAM, MOTOGP 2007

For the next two MotoGP world championships, Fiat Automobiles SpA will be the new Title Sponsor of Yamaha which, starting this season, will be called the Fiat Yamaha Team. This is an original sponsorship deal which, for the very first time, links the four-wheel with the two-wheel worlds in the form of two brands that have played memorable roles in the history of racing and of industry.

In addition, the setting up of the Fiat Yamaha Team moves forward the strategy of Fiat Automobiles SpA aimed at targeting a younger clientèle with innovative, accessible products, but also with initiatives of great appeal and high emotive impact. The Fiat Automobiles SpA sponsorship deal for the next two MotoGP seasons fits into this context, for the MotoGP championship is the event which attracts young racing fans more than any other. Undisputed icon of the two-wheel circus is Valentino Rossi, creative rider of the Fiat Yamaha Team, who has carried the banner of a victorious Italy on international circuits in recent times.

So, manufacturers of great cars and great bikes, endowed with enduring character and appeal, Fiat Automobiles SpA and Yamaha have given life to an innovative cooperation arrangement which abandons the confines of a sponsorship deal pure and simple to reach out to a broader platform of communication and advertising. For the occasion a new logo has been created consisting of the wording “team”, the Italian flag and the Fiat and Yamaha logos, as well as a series of liveries that will alternate on the two works bikes of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. The identity of the two brands thus finds an ideal place in which to develop a new graphic and chromatic language capable of speaking directly to a dynamic, young public.

Operative worldwide, the sponsorship deal will enable Fiat Automobiles SpA to promote campaigns using the sporting image of the riders and that of the Fiat Yamaha Team technicians. In detail, the two works Yamaha bikes will carry the Fiat logo and the Italian flag on the side fairings, the front windshield and the fuel tank. In addition, the race suits of the two riders as well as the clothing of staff and mechanics will be signed Fiat in the central, front and rear parts and on the legs. Finally, the Fiat logo will be present in the official communications of the team and will be highlighted inside the hospitality area, the pits and in the trucks used for transporting bikes and materials.

FIAT YAMAHA TEAM - READY TO GO

Yamaha Factory Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards begin their assault on the 2007 MotoGP World Championship next weekend as the most eagerly anticipated season in recent history finally fires up in Qatar. Saturday’s race is the first of eighteen mouth-watering events across thirteen countries and four continents that will decide the destiny of the most coveted prize in motorcycle racing. For the first time since the turn of the millennium, Rossi starts out as a challenger to the throne.

After finally conceding his title to Nicky Hayden (Honda) in a dramatic last chapter to the 2006 campaign at Valencia in November, the ever-popular Italian has worked tirelessly alongside his engineers on development of Yamaha’s all-new YZR-M1, which features an 800cc capacity engine in accordance with new technical regulations. The revised rulebook also stipulates a reduced fuel capacity of 21 litres and a maximum of 31 tyres (14 front and 17 rear) per rider during a race weekend, piling extra pressure on the teams and adding even more intrigue for the fans as the season gets underway.

Rossi’s hopes of a winning start are substantiated by two victories from three previous visits to the Losail International Circuit since its inauguration in 2004. His confidence has been further boosted by an outstanding performance in the final pre-season test at Jerez, where he set the fastest lap in a televised 40-minute ‘qualifying’ session and capped an excellent winter of development work that has taken in seventeen days of hard graft at circuits in Spain, Malaysia and Qatar. The equally diligent work of Rossi’s dependable team-mate Colin Edwards, who was close behind Rossi in third during last week’s ‘qualifying’ session, has contributed greatly to the swift evolution of the 800cc version YZR-M1 and the pair are now bursting to go racing. The ‘Texan Tornado’ is promising to whip up a storm in the desert and maintain a strong front throughout the year, as he looks to capitalise on a pre-season that has seen him side-by-side with Rossi at the top end of the time sheets at virtually every circuit they have visited.

Bike set-up at the Losail International Circuit is complicated by a host of slow corners that are preceded by fast changes of direction. The tight hairpin at turn six, for example, comes with a quick right-left change under braking, calling for a delicate balance between stability and agility. The most important section is the three fast rights at the end of the lap because this is where the rider can make up the most time, making stability at maximum lean angle an absolute must so that he has confidence to open the throttle with the bike still on its side.

“Qatar is a great track, I love it and I always feel that it’s a level playing field because we’ve only been there a few times as opposed to some of the European circuits where other riders have basically grown up,” says Colin Edwards who is looking forward to the season opener next weekend.

After stating earlier in the pre-season that the YZR-M1 is the best 800cc bike in the field, Colin Edwards (seen above during winter testing) has seen nothing to change his mind over the past two tests and the 33-year-old is now on the brink of what he hopes can be his best season since joining MotoGP in 2003.

Yamaha Factory Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will begin their assault on the 2007 MotoGP World Championship next weekend as the most eagerly anticipated season in recent history finally fires up for its first race, in Qatar.