RNF Yamaha has unveiled the colors of its Yamaha M1 race bikes campaigned by Andrea Dovizioso and Darryn Binder.
The RNF team came up as a rebrand from Petronas SRT team, which folded at the end of 2021 after three seasons in the premier class, with a consortium led by SRT team principle Razlan Razali and title sponsorship from Italian fitness brand WithU.
RNF chose to take over the Yamaha satellite supply deal that its predecessor handled, with the help of its Italian sponsor, which led to the signing of ex-Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso, the three-time MotoGP vice champion, who was joined by rookie Darryn Binder at the Philharmonic Theatre in Verona, Italy, to unveil its livery.
For its first campaign, RNF will use a mostly black and dark blue color scheme, with flashes of orange to reference WithU’s corporate colors.
Last year, Dovizioso was revealed as a Yamaha-contracted driver at the San Marino Grand Prix, with the 15-time MotoGP race winner competing in the final five races for the Petronas SRT team on a year-old M1 before transitioning to a 2022-spec bike this season.
Dovizioso says he’s “really ready” to start testing with the re-branded team at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia next month, ahead of the year’s first round in Qatar. Dovizioso also revealed that the metal plate he had inserted in his collarbone after breaking it last year was removed last month in preparation for 2022.
“I’m really ready for this season! I’m training a lot in the gym, on my Motocross bike, I removed the plate on my collarbone early December in order to feel better for this year,” said Dovizioso.
“Everything is going well. I’m so happy to start this full season after five races of testing last year, which was very important to start early with the Yamaha, which is different to what I used the last eight seasons.”
“I’m convinced that this will help me a lot to approach the tests and the races in 2022 in a better way. I know more about the bike, about the engineers and the team in general.”
“The new colours are adding to the amazing overall picture and I’m looking forward to the test in Malaysia.”
Binder, who is the first rider to jump from Moto3 to MotoGP since Jack Miller in 2014, said he expects his first season in the premier class to be “awesome,” but that he will take things “step by step” as he adjusts to his much more powerful machine. The one-time Moto3 race winner was given a year-old Yamaha for his first term.
“The colours of my new bike are just beautiful!” enthused the South African.
I definitely can’t wait! It’s going to be so awesome, I’m very, very excited for my first season in MotoGP! Our goal is just to take it step by step.
“Obviously, it’s a big jump from Moto3 to MotoGP and I only want to take it gradually and build up as high as I can. I don’t want to do anything too crazy, but rather take one step at a time and go up slowly, but surely.
“I’m really excited to get everything going, now I can’t wait for the Sepang test to get everything going!”
