MotoGP

Yamaha today launched their 2014 MotoGP livery in Jakarta Indonesia. Both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were present at the launch, along with Yamaha racing boss Lin Jarvis and the MotoGP group leader Kouichi Tsuji. The new livery resembles both the 2013 and 2012 color schemes very closely, with this year’s color scheme featuring a lot more white. Conspicuous by their absence were any new sponsor names, though Lin Jarvis assured Indonesian motorcycling blog TMCBlog that more sponsors would be announced before the season started. Earlier reports that a deal with Adidas was close appear not to have had much truth in them.

News

Just last week, Yamaha Motor Corporation filed for trademarks in the European Union and United States that include “YZF-R3” and “R3” names for motorcycles. The first reaction to the news is that Yamaha is finally reading a three-cylinder versions of its popular YZF-R1 and YZF-R6 machines; however, with some understanding of Yamaha’s naming conventions, the more likely assumption to make from this trademark filings is that Yamaha is readying a 300cc class sport bike, likely along the same veins as the Yamaha YZF-R25 concept that was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show.