2012 Ducati GP12
Valentino Rossi was in Ducati Headquarters, Bologna, Monday to unveil the GP12 in 2012 MotoGP livery.
Rossi’s 2012 Desmo was unveiled during live online presentation, something new for the Italian company. During the presentation, Rossi and his teammate Nicky Hayden helped spread the images of the new livery across their personal social media platforms.
Rossi’s first outing with the new livery will be at Sepang Friday through Sunday during the final official pre-season MotoGP test.
During his debut year with the Ducati Team last season, Rossi only made it to the podium once – third in Le Mans, France. And his season ended with three crashes that caused DNFs. Overall, Rossi finished seventh in the 2011 MotoGP Championship.
Seventh is the worse Rossi had since his debut season in GP racing back in 1996, when the now 32-year-old Italian took ninth overall. VR 46 then finished third or better across all classes (125cc, 250cc, 500cc, MotoGP), including nine titles, from 1997 through 2010.
The Ducati rider’s main struggles throughout 2011 were mostly attributed to lack of front-end feeling on the GP11. But regardless, the always-fan favorite VR46 was spectacularly captured on camera throughout the season, as shown in the above pictures that make for great wallpaper.
The 2012 championship will be an interesting task for Rossi and the Ducati team as MotoGP arrives in the 1000cc era.
