Just like Fabio’s

Well, almost. This Quartararo-a-like Motogp replica is yours for £41,000

‘Winglets, Motogp trinkets and a perfect paint job’

Most convincing race replica ever built? This new Petronas R1M is right up there – winglets, a sprinkling of Motogp trinkets and the perfect paint job makes it look more convincing than Honda’s RCV211V-S or even Ducati’s Desmosedici. Surely only a late 1990s Rothmans Honda NSR250 can rival the R1M’S ‘I’ve just stolen a GP bike’ vibe.

It couldn’t come at a better time either. As Bike went to press the Petronas squad were rocking it in Motogp, with Fabio Quartararo having won twice and leading the championship, and Franco Morbidelli coming second at Brno. Not bad for a satellite team, albeit it a megabucks one.

The bike is an official special edition, put together by the Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) who run R1s in the World Endurance championship. It’s painted by the same people who spray the Petronas Motogp bikes.

Curiously, there are a couple of #46 references bandied around in the press material – only 46 will be built and it costs 46,000 Euro (£41,000). This is supposedly because Petronas is 46 years old, but what company celebrates a 46th anniversary? It makes you wonder if they were preparing the special edition for next year when a certain Mr Rossi will join the squad, then fast forwarded their plans when Quartararo turned out to be a genius.

Petronas’ team principal Razlan Razali was light on 46 references, saying: ‘We are extremely excited about this project which highlights our success as a team as the first satellite Yamaha squad to score a Motogp victory in over 20 years.’

»To order a bike, brace your credit card and go toy art. site…