Valencia wildcard “important” for Yamaha V4 MotoGP “direction”

The Yamaha V4 MotoGP bike will be back on-track this weekend (14–16 November) at the final round of the 2025 season, the Valencia Grand Prix, and Augusto Fernandez has stressed the importance of the weekend to deciding the “direction” of development for 2026.

Yamaha is still yet to confirm it will switch to the V4 engine – which it has not run at full power yet in either of its two wildcard appearances in Sepang and Misano – in the 2026 MotoGP season, but is pushing ahead with development of the new bike it hopes will, by February’s Sepang test, be at least promising enough to convince Fabio Quartararo to remain in blue beyond the end of his current contract, which expires at the end of next season.

Quartararo, of course, will be on-track with the V4 for only the second time at an official test at Valencia next Tuesday (18 November), but first comes the Valencia Grand Prix, which Augusto Fernandez expects to be “important”.

“I'm happy to be back racing again,” the official Yamaha MotoGP test rider said, “and especially to be back racing in Valencia. 

“I'm looking forward to continue improving the V4-powered prototype and collecting further data. 

“It will be an important weekend to decide the direction to work in during this winter and next year. I can't wait to get started!”

Quartararo: Portugal “not bad”, hoping for more at Valencia

With the V4 seemingly on the horizon for Yamaha’s MotoGP project, this weekend’s Valencia race could prove to be the last one for the inline-four configuration it has raced since the inception of four-stroke grand prix racing in 2002.

Far from being sentimental about the YZR-M1 that a he rode to a MotoGP title in 2021, though, Fabio Quartararo is looking towards Valencia hoping to be “more towards the leading group” after a Portuguese round that saw him on the front row and in the top-six in both races.

“My overall performance in Portugal was not bad: I did enjoy battling in the Sprint and the Race – and also the qualifying was okay – but I do hope that I will be a bit more towards the leading group in Valencia,” Quartararo said.

“It's nice to be back here at Ricardo Tormo. It's not an easy track, but we will give it our 100 per cent, as always, to end this season in the best way possible before we start working on 2026.”

Quartararo’s Monster Energy Yamaha teammate, Alex Rins, stressed the importance of racing in Valencia again, a year on from the floods that killed 237 people, destroyed infrastructure, and – from a racing perspective – forced the transfer of the final round to Barcelona.

“It's great to be back at this track after everything the community went through with the floods last year,” Rins said.

“Having MotoGP return makes this weekend feel extra special. 

“We all want to put on the best show possible for the fans here and everyone watching around the world. 

“Personally, I'm hoping to finish the season on a strong note before we kick off 2026 testing on Tuesday.”