Quartararo is counting on a second day with the V4 to guide his development

Yamaha therefore turned the page on Sunday on the inline four-cylinder engine, for a V4 configuration which will be used by its four riders during the 2026 season. fabio quartararoÁlex Rins, Jack Miller, and newcomer Toprak Razgatlıoğlu were thus able to complete the half-day of official testing, as the morning session was cancelled due to track conditions. It should be noted that this was the third proper test with the V4 engine, following those conducted at Misano and Barcelona earlier this year.

While the lap times of the factory team's machines weren't revolutionary (Quartararo was fifteenth, Rins nineteenth), the Frenchman from Nice welcomed this change in engine philosophy. Yamaha was, in fact, the last manufacturer to still use an inline four-cylinder engine. Although he wasn't jumping for joy after his second test ride (the first having taken place at Misano), the 2021 world champion is focused on helping his engineers extract the best possible potential from this new package.

“We’ve been working a lot on the bike’s setup, trying to find the baseline because we don’t have it yet. It’s also important to have a second day on Wednesday to give a clear direction regarding the chassis and what the engineers can do, in order to find something extra.”

"El Diablo" also went into more detail about his feelings regarding his new machine. While he had openly expressed his disappointment with what he rode at Misano, the Frenchman is now adopting a more analytical approach, aiming to solve the problems encountered.

"In short, we know we had a very good front end on the old bike, but we don't have that on the one equipped with the V4. That's why I think we need to find the basic setup, because otherwise, the extra power is a pretty clear issue. We were expecting a bit more grip, but the most important thing for me is to be able to give the engineers the right information to find the right solutions after Wednesday's private tests."

“I’m more neutral (than at Misano. Ed.). There’s no point in saying too much. We need to do the best job possible, find the feeling we want to have in order to set up the bike as best as possible, and above all, give the engineers the right directions. The front end was a real weakness; the bike wasn’t turning enough, we lacked power, the grip is quite different, and we’re missing quite a bit of it. It will be important to give the engineers clear data, for myself as well as my teammates.”

Now, after this final day of testing for the 2025 season, the focus shifts to the Sepang tests in Malaysia next January. While Yamaha has confirmed that the V4 engine will be used in races, Fabio Quartararo believes that a prototype of the 2025 bike will still be available for comparative testing with the new machine.

"Next year we'll be with the V4, that's for sure, but I think we'll still have a bike with an inline four-cylinder engine at Sepang, which is good for me, to have a starting point. We'll only do a few laps with it, like this Tuesday morning, just to have a baseline."

Interview by Luca Bartolomeo, in Valencia (Spain).

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