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Earlier today the Yamaha MotoGP 2015 Launch took place at Telefonica’s headquarters in Madrid, Spain.

The Movistar Yamaha team unveiled the 2015 livery and issued a press release with info about the coming season. After some observations and comments from yours truly, the press release is included below.

While most of the sponsors/partners remain the same, a new tie to Fiat is part of the 2015 deal, and an iconic Abarth logo has joined the front fairing decals.

A special edition Fiat Abarth even made some of the press photos, sporting a gray/blue paint scheme that mimics the Yamaha team colors.

Personally I think this is a pretty cool tie-in, as in my neighborhood there are a couple of the Abarth Fiat 500 models. They sound fantastic as they cruise by. I really enjoying hearing them, and also seeing this connection in the present to some amazing race cars from long ago. That the storied Abarth legend is now a small part of MotoGP is even better.

Another interesting note is the mention that Descente, my choice of cycling apparel in my younger, slimmer days, has joined the team as clothing provider. Yet Alpinestars is still listed in the returning sponsors. I will be on the lookout to see what Alpinestars is contributing if the team members are all fitted out in Descente clothing. Making the new union perhaps a bit stranger, Descent seems now to make only ski apparel, as nothing else is listed on their website. Descent cycling stuff all seems to be on closeout when listed at other websites. So what the Japanese ski clothing company hopes to get from outfitting a motorcycling team remains to be discovered. Perhaps the salient point is that Descente is Japanese.

I’m also glad to see Akrapovic still involved, as the Slovenian company seems to be one of the few exhaust manufacturers doing something really interesting.

Years ago a mechanic told me that the pipe on his team’s bikes wore the decal of their exhaust pipe sponsor, but that sponsor had nothing to do with the design or manufacture of the equipment itself. The exhaust pipe was built by the factory that built the motorcycle. Given that this kind of thing goes on, it’s nice to see a pipe like the Akrapovic unit, which at least looks like the work of a specialist in exhaust parts rather than the work of the motorcycle factory with a sponsor’s decal slapped on top.

More Yamaha photos and text on the next page: