While the Yamaha Factory Racing team and Monster Yamaha Tech3 team are firing up for the third round of the 2011 MotoGP season in Estoril (Portugal), Yamaha is proud to further increase the momentum on what will hopefully be a memorable 50th year of competition in the highest echelons of road racing with a look back at all of the company’s FIM Grand Prix World Champions and some key figures in their illustrious half century of racing history.

A series of informative ‘portraits’ charting Yamaha’s first forays into Grand Prix in 1961, first race win in 1963 and maiden title in 1964 right up until modern day will be released in the coming months. Since the heyday of that first Grand Prix world title, Yamaha’s works effort has seen some of the very best champions evolve the RD, 0W, TZ and YZR machinery as they raced to glory.

While praising and revering all of Yamaha’s Grand Prix efforts on a special commemorative website, that can be visited by clicking here , thirteen dedications will be highlighted. Teruo Okada, Fumio Ito, Phil Read, Bill Ivy, Kent Andersson, Jarno Saarinen, Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Carlos Lavado, Wayne Rainey, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo all feature in Yamaha’s treasured look-back at their GP heritage.

The portrait series is an action of many planned for the course of 2011 where Yamaha will not only try to defend the Triple Crown but also do justice to 50 years of challenge, innovation and success in Grand Prix Racing.