The evening before the San Diego Supercross, Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA announced its renewed partnership with longtime sponsor Monster Energy. The brands celebrated the occasion by unveiling the latest global Monster Energy Yamaha racing liveries for the 2023 season with the likes of Fabio Quartararo (MotoGP), Eli Tomac (Supercross, US Motocross), Dylan Ferrandis (Supercross, US Motocross), and Jeremy Seewer (MXGP) on hand at K1 Speed, a local go-karting facility.
By the time this story hit the interwebs, the Monster Energy Yamaha teams have been stacking up race wins, and Tomac is currently leading the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series, and he is the defending champ.
In early January, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team’s YZR-M1 livery launched in Jakarta, tipping Yamaha’s hand with its latest aesthetic direction. The liveries shown off in San Diego and imagined by famed Italian designer Aldo Drudi build on that theme seen on the M1 and create visual continuity between the YZ race machines of its Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and MX2 teams, as well as its YZR-M1 racers. Tomac and Ferrandis their new decked-out 2023 YZ450Fs, with Seewer pumping up his YZ450FM and, finally, Quartararo promoting his recently announced YZR-M1.
The fresh appearance emphasizes the branding partnership between Yamaha and Monster Energy. It is said to be a younger look by Yamaha representatives, punctuated by camouflage elements that incorporate Yamaha and Monster Energy colorways into the mix.
It is exceedingly rare to amass this much racing talent under one roof outside of a year-end FIM Awards ceremony. The multidisciplined lineup of Quartararo, Tomac, Ferrandis, and Seewer enjoyed the evening, blowing off steam at an indoor go-kart facility with Yamaha staffers and esteemed alums, such as four-time 450SX Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto.
Looking beyond the healthy collection of championship titles and race wins by the racers, other familiar faces from TV broadcasts were in attendance. Yamaha Motor Racing Manager Lin Jarvis, Toyoshi Nishida, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.’s Executive Officer, and finally, Monster Energy’s VP of Motorsport Marketing, David Gowland, all made the trek.
We caught up with the 2021 MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo. He happens to be a huge Supercross fan and was excited to check out the San Diego Supercross round in person. “It’s nice because I don’t need to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to watch the races,” Quartararo said with a laugh. “So now it’s going to be nice [to] watch it live. I’m here for a few weeks, two and a half, so I can do some training and enjoy myself riding MX.”
Quartararo planned to train at Southern California MX hotspots such as Fox Raceway in Pala, Perris Raceway, and Glen Helen Raceway while rehabbing a recent wrist fracture. From the looks of social media, he spent plenty of time wringing out YZ dirt bikes in SoCal while prepping for the upcoming 2023 MotoGP Sepang test.
Quartararo also chimed in on the MotoGP YZR-M1 and his thoughts on the current development direction: “I’m actually looking forward to the tests because—Yamaha, we had some really great meetings. It looks like they’re going to make it a big step forward. So yeah, I can’t wait to be racing.”
When asked where he sees improvements being made, Quartararo cited these key areas: “So, engine for sure. And, hopefully, on chassis and aerodynamics is where we need to work, so I really can’t wait.”
Yamaha Motor Racing Manager Lin Jarvis is a fixture in the Yamaha MotoGP paddock and is arguably as recognizable as the riders. He was also instrumental in building the partnership between Monster Energy and Yamaha Motor Racing and commented on their furthered relationship.
“Fortunately for us, [Monster Energy CEO] Rodney Sacks is a tremendous supporter of the MotoGP program. Monster understands motorcycle sport; they understand motorsport, and they get it. And it’s really important to work with a brand like that because there’s a lot of stress. You can’t win all the time; you have to work with athletes—they’re very demanding; they understand that—we understand that. It’s a mechanical sport. It’s so important to work with people that understand your world.”
Discussing the finer points of MotoGP team sponsorship led to questions about the crucial upcoming Sepang test and the team’s motorcycle development hopes. Jarvis’s outlook is optimistic and made it clear that the MotoGP squad had many goals to address in these important preseason outings.
“We are working on each and every area,” Jarvis explained. “We’re working on the engine design. We’re also working on the chassis design and trying to recreate the advantage that we had in the past.”
“In the past, we had the advantage of a super maneuverable handling bike,” Jarvis continued. “The Yamaha is typically super strong in the chassis and generally a little bit weaker on the engine. But we’ve seen that our competitors have exceeded us in engine performance, which is not a surprise, but they’ve also been able to catch up on the chassis side. So, we really need to find not only more horsepower, but we need to re-discover our advantage on the chassis. We need to return to that way where the Yamaha bike is easy to ride and has better turning ability than our competitors. So, we have a list from here to Tokyo to test in Sepang.”
With the event taking place at an indoor go-kart track, it was inevitable that some spirited laps took place with many current and former racers in attendance. Members of the motorcycle media took to the circuit with factory Yamaha riders enjoying an afternoon in go-karts. After a handful of qualifying races, the field whittled down to a short list of quick pilots, with Quartararo eking out a victory over Seewer, with Swapmoto Live’s Michael Antonovich rounding out the podium.
Yamaha/Monster Energy Partnership Renewed Photo Gallery
