January 31st 2006

The following press release was issued by the Tech 3 Yamaha Team today, January
31st 2006 at 0900 hours CET.

TWO RIDERS AT TECH 3 WITH DUNLOP AND YAMAHA

The Tech 3 Team will compete in the 2006 MotoGP World Championship with two
riders, Spaniard Carlos Checa and Briton James Ellison, both on Yamaha M1s
fitted with DUNLOP tyres.

"Thanks to the combined efforts of DUNLOP, YAMAHA MOTOR and TECH 3, we have been
able to finalize this project", explains Herve Poncharal, Team Manager of the
French team "After a difficult winter during which we developed our project with
DUNLOP, YAMAHA and the young rider James Ellison, we are now really excited to
see Carlos Checa joining the team.

"Carlos is the most experienced rider on this year's MotoGP grid. During his
ten-year career as one of the top riders in the sport's premier category, he has
ridden different bikes on different tyre brands and, based on this experience,
his input to our development will be of great value, especially for DUNLOP.

"With Carlos partnering James Ellison, one of the emerging talents and who raced
on DUNLOP tyres last year, we complete the ideal line-up of our team, a blend of
youth and experience, in which we have strong hopes."

Carlos Checa will get his first experience of his new YAMAHA M1 on DUNLOP tyres
during the team's next tests in Qatar on 5th, 6th and 7th February.

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Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, adds "Yamaha is very
pleased to be able to finally complete its two team, four rider line-up for the
2006 season. It was always our desire to try to have four riders on the grid,
both to continue Yamaha's MotoGP participation at the optimum level and also to
support the MotoGP sport which is very important for our business and provides
us with great exposure and promotion for motorcycling worldwide. Yamaha would
like to thank all the parties that contributed to the completion of this project
and we wish the Tech 3 Yamaha Team every success in 2006."