Yamaha not yet planning to race V4 MotoGP engine with factory riders in 2025

Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Paolo Pavesio says the Iwata manufacturer is “planning” for its factory riders to test its V4 MotoGP engine this year, but not race the new motor.

The Yamaha V4 MotoGP engine has been in development since the middle of 2024, and since it was officially confirmed by the Iwata factory at Misano last September the project has developed in-parallel with the inline-four YZR-M1 that has been raced so far this year and which is directly evolved from each M1 that has raced in MotoGP since 2004 when Yamaha first used an unconventional firing order on its four-stroke premier class grand prix bike.

The new V4 engine was most recently tested at a private test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but was used only by the test team and not by any of the present race riders – just Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira on this occasion.

Paolo Pavesio confirmed that there is a plan for Yamaha’s factory race riders to test the V4 this year, but not yet to race this bike in 2025.

“We are planning to have them [the factory race riders] testing the bike, not racing the bike,” Pavesio said on MotoGP.com’s Gear Up show at Mugello.

“At this point in the season, it’s really depending on how the next steps will progress.

“As we’ve always said, it’s a parallel racing and development project.

“Now, the bike was on-track, is already public, and the more one is progressing in performance the more it makes the internal competition more interesting and challenging.

“Still, we want to get out of the V4 the best future machine possible, in the same way we want to be as competitive every week on-track with the current package.”