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Yamaha XSR900 Abarth Adds Some Italian Sports Heritage

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Yamaha has a long-standing relationship with Fiat’s tuning arm, Abarth, with the two brands having collaborated several times in the past.

For 2017, Yamaha and Abarth are teaming up again, creating the limited edition Yamaha XSR900 Abarth – a tricked out three-cylinder café racer – that is debuting at the 2016 EIMCA show.

As the name suggest, the Yamaha XSR900 serves as the basis for this custom model, with Abarth adding a sportier tone to the retro-styled “Sport Heritage” motorcycle.

Abarth’s changes include carbon fiber bodywork pieces, such as the headlight shroud, rear seat cowl, and front fender. There is also a special full titanium Akrapovi? exhaust, which looks absolutely exquisite, as to be expected.

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Bikes

2015 Yamaha YZR-M1 & Team Livery Mega Gallery

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Yamaha is ready to go racing in the 2015 MotoGP World Championship, and the Japanese OEM debuted today its factory team and racing livery. Of course riding for Yamaha Racing are Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, and their weapon of choice will be the Yamaha YZR-M1 GP race bike.

2015 does not see too much changing in the MotoGP rulebook, so the 2015 Yamaha YZR-M1 is fairly close in spec to the 2014 model, though you can be certain that Yamaha and its team of engineers have not been wasting the off-season time with idle hands.

This season sees Abarth, the tuning brand of Fiat, as an official sponsor of the Yamaha MotoGP team, re-igniting the two company’s previous collaboration when both Rossi and Edwards worked for the Iwata-based manufacturer.

We won’t bore you with anymore details, we know you came for the high-resolution photos. You’ll find plenty of them, in all their bandwidth-busting glory, after the jump.

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News

Castiglioni Denies Fiat Buyout of MV Agusta Is in the Works

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After reporting 22% growth in Q1 2014, Giovanni Castiglioni had some closing words about the rumors that Fiat could acquire MV Agusta — a popular rumor that has been swirling around in the press the last two months.

Denying outright that MV Agusta had, or was in, talks with the Fiat-Chrysler group about an acquisition (some reports linked even MV Agusta to being bought by Fiat-owned Ferrari), Castiglioni said the Italian company solely was focused on building growth, and building motorcycles.

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Rumors

Rumor: Fiat Looking to Buy MV Agusta?

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Undoubtedly fueled by Audi’s purchase of Ducati Motor Holding, rumors out of Italy now peg Fiat to acquire MV Agusta. While neither party will talk about the rumors, it is no secret that MV Agusta is in need of more cash, as the company had difficulty securing credit after the Castiglioni’s repurchased the company, now debt free, from Harley-Davidson.

This has lead to the Varese brand releasing a rapid succession of closely related motorcycles in an effort to bolster sales and penetrate new market segments: the MV Agusta F3, MV Agusta Brutale, MV Agusta Rivale, MV Agusta Turismo Veloce, and MV Agusta Dragster. The company’s financial position has also fueled CEO Giovanni Castiglioni to talk last year about a possible IPO by as early as 2016.

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Racing

Fiat Officially Says Ciao to Yamaha

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This weekend, Fiat and Yamaha unsurprisingly and officially ended their four-year relationship. The first non-tobacco title sponsor in the four-stroke MotoGP category, Fiat joined up with Yamaha in 2007, when MotoGP switched to the 800cc format. Originally justifying the sponsorship as a way to reach a car-buying audience that was younger than Formula 1 fans, Fiat has always had its eye on the Italian rider. That relationship has manifested itself in Rossi testing with Ferrari on numerous occasions, and prompted the nine-time World Champion to consider kart racing after his motorcycling career is over.

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Racing

Yamaha’s MotoGP Team Still Without A Title Sponsor

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After winning the MotoGP Triple Crown: The Rider, Team, and Manufacturer Championships, the factory Yamaha team finds itself in a difficult position looking for a title sponsor for next year. After Valentino Rossi’s departure to Ducati Corse for the 2011 season, Fiat, the team’s sponsor from 2007 until recently, dropped the Yamaha squad after its loss of the Italian rider (Fiat had long been associated with Yamaha because of the company’s desire to woo Rossi into the Ferrari Formula 1 team…that and the Italian helps sell the Italian made cars).

Perhaps under-appreciating the value of having Rossi on board a Yamaha bike in 2011, the tuning fork brand has now been left scrambling for a marquis name to help foot the bills for the next season. Despite having the reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Rookie of the Year Ben Spies, deals with Petronas, Telefonica, and AirAsia have failed to materialize, despite lengthy rumor, meaning Yamaha’s corporate Blue/White livery might be spotted in Qatar (something reserved usually for non-sponsored wild card riders).

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Racing

The Countdown to V-Day

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No it’s not Victory Day, nor Valentine’s Day, and not even the next showing of the Vagina Monologues, the countdown to V-Day in the motorcycle world is the day that Valentino Rossi announces his move to Ducati in MotoGP racing. Slated to occur at Brno during the Czech GP because of a gentlemen’s agreement, Valentino Rossi’s announcement will be the crack in the doors that opens the flood gates of other announcements. Like a line of domino’s strewn about the MotoGP paddock, Rossi’s plans for 2011 are the tipping stone that sets the rest of the paddock in motion…and we’re sure he’d have it no other way.

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Racing

Fiat Boss Fuels Ferrari/Rossi Rumors

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Fiat Chairman Luca di Montezemolo has thrown some more fuel on the never-ending fires about a Valentino Rossi’s rumored switch to Formula One racing. Fiat as you might remember is the title sponsor of the factory Yamaha MotoGP team, and also the parent company to Ferrari. In what he calls a “great idea”, di Montezemolo made it clear that he would like to see the seven-time World Champion driving for Corse Rosa.

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Racing

Video Interviews with Rossi, Lorenzo, & Jarvis

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In conjunction with the unveiling of the 2010 Fiat-Yamaha MotoGP team, a series of interviews with Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, and Lin Jarvis have been released for public consumption. Despite being released from the team’s PR firm, with cooperation from Fiat, the questions strike at the heart of many the issues that surround the Lorenzo/Rossi battle for supremacy. They’re quite long, but worth a watch, check them out after the jump.

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