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Gallery: Yamaha fires the first shot of the 2017 MotoGP Season by Unveiling the new YZR-M1

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team launch photos of the Yamaha M1s that Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales will ride in the 2017 MotoGP World Championship

By SR Staff

January 19, 2017

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP held its 2017 team launch in Madrid, and unveiled the latest version of Yamaha's M1 that Rossi and Viñales will ride in the championship.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

As preparations get set for the first official MotoGP test of 2017 at Sepang, Malaysia on January 30, the major factories are starting to do their official team launches. It's the usual pomp and flashy presentations, sometimes in an exotic locale, with teams also showing their team riders all suited in their latest leathers and helmets for the coming season. It's the first chance everyone gets to see the new bikes, and although this is definitely the case with the 2017 Yamaha YZR-M1, Yamaha MotoGP head Kouichi Tsuji noted that some aspects of the bike will change as the season progresses. Nonetheless, checking out the latest MotoGP machine is always a treat, and that's no different here.

Besides the usual shots of the bike, Yamaha also included a couple of shots of the M1's engine, which is bike porn in itself. Be sure to scroll through all the photos, there's some cool stuff in there. Enjoy!

Rossi commented during the team launch when asked about Viñales as a teammate for the next two seasons, "I was hoping that he would take a little time to get used to the bike, but as we saw at the Valencia test, he was very strong."Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Not a whole lot of changes visible externally to the Yamaha M1 for 2017, but then again, it wasn't as if it drastically needed any.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

2017 Yamaha YZR-M1, #46 head-on shotPhoto courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Based upon his performance at the Valencia post-race test in November, it's a sure bet that Viñales will be a contender for the championship in 2017.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

The seat sticker on Rossi's #46 M1 represents his two bulldogs, Cesare and Cecilia, and his cat Rossano.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

It's interesting to note that the M1's dry clutch setup is now made by Exedy, a well-known automotive aftermarket clutch company.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

The Doctor will be in his 21st Grand Prix season in 2017...will he be able to put it all together after two consecutive runner-up MotoGP championship finishes?Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

For 2017, the Movistar "M" logo is now larger on the fairing side, apparently as a way of showing the team title sponsor's much larger financial investment compared to Monster Energy.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

As before, the YZR-M1's engine cases are machined completely from solid billet aluminum, an enormous CNC task that reportedly takes over 40 hours of machining to accomplish.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Another shot of the Yamaha YZR-M1's engine. The blue piping attachment on top of the valve cover is for the pneumatic valve inlet and outlet actuators.Photo courtesy of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP