Yamaha denies Sepang MotoGP test issues impact 2027 Fabio Quartararo talks

Yamaha MotoGP team boss Massimo Meregalli doesn’t believe the brand’s Sepang testing issues have “impacted any decision” on Fabio Quartararo’s future.

The Japanese marque is in the midst of a crucial pre-season, as it presses on with development of its new V4 while also trying to convince Fabio Quartararo to stay put for 2027.

Ahead of testing, reports emerged that the 2021 world champion has already signed a deal to join Honda next year.

He denied this, though he admitted that Honda is one of the brands he is talking to.

However, Yamaha’s hopes of convincing him were severely knocked when it was forced to sit out Wednesday’s running at the Sepang test due to an engine issue.

Asked if this has impacted Yamaha’s talks with the Frenchman, Meregalli replied:

“I don’t think that yesterday has impacted any decision.

“We were just waiting, because we always said the discussions could start after this test.

“We’ve had to postpone those discussions to the next one.”

Yamaha “never had” Sepang engine issue before

Yamaha ended the final day of the Sepang test with Alex Rins its top representative in 12th, after it was able to run again following a fix to its woes.

Meregalli remained tight-lipped on what the issue was or what the fix was, though it is thought Yamaha reduced the engine’s revs to protect the motor.

“For us, this morning when we received the information from Japan, we were really relieved because I think they had a really long night between Japan and Italy,” he said.

“The engineers were able to really understand the cause of the problem, so we got the green light to restart the activity on track.

“More than big, it was really unexpected and unknown.

“So, it was a problem we never had and for them it was really important to understand. Luckily they were able and we were able to finish the test.

“The most important thing is the problem looks solved. And what we were not able to do here, we will do in Buriram in a few weeks.”