The Factory Yamaha Racing duo are keen to get out on track for the opening round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship, the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.
This weekend marks the end of a long winter of coming up as the hugely anticipated 2011 MotoGP season bursts into life on the floodlit Losail International Circuit in Qatar. Reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo steps up to the grid to confront for a second title at the controls of his YZR-M1 with nothing less than victory in his sights. Joining him in the garage and carrying out Yamaha Factory Racing's line up for this season will be 2010 MotoGP Rookie of the Year Ben Spies.
The 2010 season saw Lorenzo resolutely cement his place as one of the Grand Prix elite. The 23 year-old Mallorcan stormed through the 18-round season to take an impressive nine race wins and a premier class record breaking 383 point tally on his way to title victory. The Yamaha Factory rider has started every MotoGP race in his premier class career at Qatar from the front row, taking a pole position in his 2008 MotoGP debut and has always ended on the podium, although a race win has so far eluded him.
Spies, the Texan Factory newcomer, is no stranger to Yamaha having taken the Yamaha Factory Superbike to conquest in the 2009 World Superbike Championship. He went on to amaze in his debut season in MotoGP in 2010 on the Tech3 Yamaha M1, securing sixth in the Championship standings as the highest placed non-factory rider, scoring two podiums and a stunning pole position start for his home race at Indianapolis in the process. The 2010 season opener at the Losail circuit saw the 25 year-old push on from a fourth-row grid start location to finish the race in fifth, just 3.9 seconds from the race winner.
