In difficulty since the end of the 2022 season, Yamaha is sparing no effort to get back on its feet. MotoGP. After a year without a podium, the Iwata factory is delighted to be able to count on the support of Pramac Racing, its new satellite team for the 2025 campaign.
With four machines, instead of two, the Blues will store much more information than before, in the hope of progressing faster than their rivals. However, the manufacturer to which the French world champion, fabio quartararo, will be associated until 2027 with other projects in the pipeline.
One of the big questions from the Sepang pre-season test was the brand's new engine. Yamaha has been working on its new V4 engine for a long time, to replace the current M1 inline-four. However, the project is not yet complete, as the new brand director, and successor to Lin Jarvis, Paolo Pavesio, explains.
“These two days of Shakedown are very important for us, confides the Italian in an interview given to the site crash.net. It is true that we are developing a V4. It is not [just] a new engine. It is a new bike. But it is also true that we are racing with an in-line engine that has been heavily renewed over the winter."
"We want to be competitive as soon as possible, He continues. To be transparent, it is very clear in 2025 that the factory teams will race with the M1 engine, 4-cylinder in line.
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However, Pavesio does not rule out the possibility of the Yamaha V4 being used in 2025, in at least one round of the twenty-two-race MotoGP calendar.
"It is not realistic to imagine moving [to V4] during the season, he adds again. What is realistic, and what we are aiming for, is that the [V4] is mature enough, to use it on some of the six wild cards, with Augusto [Fernandez].
Yamaha's new test rider could therefore inaugurate this engine during the season. As a reminder, the Rank D factories have six Wildcards per season, three before the summer break, and three during the last part of the season.
The Japanese factory's partnership with Pramac could therefore help speed things up. As the new factory team director announced during the presentation, this structure is not considered a customer structure, but rather a second official team.
“The Yamaha-Pramac setup is different. Pramac is a partner. Their contribution is crucial to achieving our common goals. Pramac is fully committed to being a key player in Yamaha’s return to the top of MotoGP. We believe they will help us accelerate the process.”
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