"Nice one! More powerful" - Yamaha’s new MotoGP engine set for Le Mans debut

Yamaha’s V4 prototype may have grabbed the headlines recently, but the factory underlined its commitment to the current Inline4 by debuting an updated engine during Monday’s Jerez MotoGP test.

After breaking Yamaha's pole and podium drought during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Fabio Quartararo continued the factory’s momentum by finishing third at the post-race test, held in high-grip but gusty conditions.

Quartararo’s best time of 1m 36.353s put him 0.477s behind test leader Marc Marquez (Ducati), with KTM’s Maverick Vinales in between. But the main focus was on the engine, rather than lap times.

"We tested a new engine, and it looks like it's positive," Quartararo confirmed. "We will probably use it in Le Mans, but before then, the engineers will have to analyse the data well.

"The straight here is super short, but the most important thing was to see if we had the same level of agility with the new engine as the standard one. The feeling was good.

"We still need a bit more time to understand the real benefit of this engine, though. But there are some positives, which I think is great. I'm ready for Le Mans."

"It's just an advantage"

Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli confirmed the manufacturer plans to homologate the updated engine for the French GP, describing the comments from both Quartararo and team-mate Alex Rins as "positive".

"We ended up having a really good weekend, followed by a successful test," Meregalli said. "Today we were able to collect some good information. The main topic was the updated engine, which is not the V4.

"We are ready to seal this updated engine specification in Le Mans as our third engine. The comments of the riders were positive, and we are satisfied. 

"We know that the updated engine has a bit more power while the character of the bike is still the same, so it's just an advantage.

“We are convinced that this engine is better."

"New engine – a nice one! More powerful"

Alongside the new engine, Yamaha also evaluated minor aerodynamic updates, though final conclusions will come after further analysis.

Rins, who made a big step up the timesheets with fourth overall, was similarly encouraged by the performance of the upgraded engine, as he continues to recover from injuries sustained during the Spanish GP weekend.

"We tried a new engine – a nice one! It's more powerful," Rins smiled. "We are working on the top speed because that was missing a little bit for us, and we clearly improved by 2km/h. This is a great result. We are going to use this engine in Le Mans."

Rins added: "Of course there are other points of improvement, but I'm quite happy because what we tried today helps me to go into the corners in a better way."

Despite physical limitations after Saturday’s crash, Rins completed around 50 laps, focusing on engine and set-up work, and improved his best lap time by half a second.