Maverick Vinales spotted in the Yamaha colours for the first time in 2017 while Lorenzo gave his thoughts on the Ducati bike and this season’s possibilities
It has been almost two weeks now since the start of 2017. With the big reshuffle and additions to the MotoGP riders’ roster, one of the most talked about transfer would be young blood, Maverick Vinales. Officially a Movistar Yamaha rider on 1 January 2017, we finally caught a sight of Vinales in the Yamaha colours and he looked great.
Here’s a short video on him in the Yamaha shirt after a motorcross session:
In other news and probably the most exciting transfer in MotoGP history to date, Jorge Lorenzo joined forces with Ducati and their ballistic crotch rocket, the Desmosedici GP17.
The confident Spaniard has been with a huge smile on his face ever since getting on the Desmosedici for the first time during the end-of-season test in Valencia. From the looks of it, we reckoned that this is the happiest Lorenzo has been in quite a while. And his lap times further cemented our speculations.
Lorenzo stated that the he was happy and motivated with the Desmo’s potential although he couldn’t elaborate any further at the time due to conflict in contract. What we can confirm with his own words were “When I tried the bike, it put a big smile on my face inside the helmet, and that’s very important.”
While the refreshed and newly-driven Lorenzo knows that he has the fastest MotoGP bike to date, he is also aware that things won’t be any easier for the 2017 season. In fact, things are going to be more exciting than ever.
Although Lorenzo is confident with Ducati, we can’t ignore the Champion himself, Marc Marquez and the Repsol Honda. The combination is almost unbeatable and if the newly rumoured “big bang” engine works in solving their corner exit speed issues, it’ll be very hard to catch up with Marquez this season.
Other riders in the mix can’t be ignored as well. Even though Valentino Rossi is the oldest rider coming into 2017, he is definitely the last person anyone would want to ignore. The Movistar Yamaha rider is more pumped for this season and we’re confident he’ll give all he has to win the MotoGP crown for the 10th time.
With the 2017 season starting soon, things are going to be hotter than ever. Iannone on the Suzuki, KTM with their factory team and blistering fast riders moving up from Moto2, it won’t be easy for anyone but it’ll probably be the best season that will go down in the history books.
Stay tuned to Bikes Republic for more MotoGP updates!
