Jakarta (Indonesia), 17th January 2014
Yamaha Factory Racing stars Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi kicked off the new MotoGP season today by unveiling the 2014 Yamaha YZR-M1 live in front of nearly 4000 members of the Yamaha family at the 3S Dealer meeting in Indonesia.
The two-day visit saw both riders engage in a number of activities for their first official outing of 2014. Yesterday Jorge met with a number of local media before heading off to take part in a soccer game with a team of Lorenzo fans and members of the Yamaha community.
This morning Jorge and Vale went together to meet Mr. Joko Widodo, the current Governor of Jakarta. The threesome spent some time cycling and chatting together before the riders moved on to join the thousands of Yamaha dealers gathered to witness the unveiling of the 2014 YZR-M1 that marked the start of the 3S Dealer Meeting.
Jorge and Vale wrapped up the day by recording a local TV show and shooting a Yamaha TV commercial before heading to the airport and saying goodbye to Indonesia once again.
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“It’s always nice to come into a sunny country with happy people, especially Indonesia, a country that gets crazy about MotoGP. Both Vale and myself have a lot of fans. Everyone recognises us in the street and gives us a lot of love so it’s a good place to promote Yamaha. Every year this Asian market gets more and more important so our visits here increase. This time we decided to do the launch here, in front of thousands of Yamaha people. I like the new bike a lot, it’s very smart and elegant with more white. It’s not just the colour though; I’m excited to see what’s inside the bike in Sepang! My expectations for this season are very high. This winter I had an operation to take out the metal plates in my shoulder so I’m a bit lighter but I’m also a bit fatter after Christmas! I am training hard to lose some kilos and I will try to start the season well like last year and be straight onto the podium. This will be important to get points and gain confidence to keep going through the season. Our rivals will be tough but I think if we’ve improved in some areas then we have a good chance to win the title again. When you are fast and winning races all the big factories want you, this is normal. I have to clarify that there is no truth in the rumours that there is a contract with another manufacturer and I would like to start negotiating as soon as possible for my future with Yamaha. My dream is to retire after my career as a Yamaha rider. If our bike is even better this year then it will be easier!” |
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Lin Jarvis
Yamaha Motor Racing, Managing Director
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“I am very happy that I was able to attend the Yamaha Motor Indonesia Dealer Convention here today with our President Mr. Yanagi, Jorge, Vale, and Tsuji-san to give the Indonesian dealers an exclusive preview of our new colours for the 2014 season. The Indonesian market is the biggest in the world and MotoGP is enormously popular here so I really hope we can come here to race in the future. I would like to thank our hosts for making us so welcome and for their invaluable support to our MotoGP project. We now look forward with impatience to the first Sepang test in just over two weeks from now to start our 2014 title campaign.” |