The 2023 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP livery
Yamaha will not race with an engine developed by Formula 1 man Luca Marmorini until the 2024 MotoGP season.
The former Ferrari and Toyota engine chief began working with the Iwata manufacturer in February 2022, an appointment that appears to have played a significant role in the 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo’s decision to sign a new contract for the next two seasons.
But the French who quipped during the 2022 pre-season that Yamaha might “run out of horses”.will not be able to use a genuine Marmorini creation for another year.
“The fruits of the collaboration with Marmorini will be seen in 2024,” Monster Energy Yamaha Team Director Massimo Meregalli told Italy La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“This year’s engine is still a descendant of the 2021 and 2022; he concentrates on the next one.â€
This means Yamaha will continue to use an inline-four engine, at least for the team, and is therefore an outlier in the field considering Suzuki has now left MotoGP and the other four manufacturers run V4s.
Nonetheless, according to Takahiro Sumi, President of Yamaha Motor Racing, in comments made over the past few days at the presentation of the team’s livery, it has “almost all areas of the bike changed“.
Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli ensure an unchanged factory squad rider line-up in 2023, but there is now no satellite team as RNF moves to Aprilia, a manufacturer which Marmorini has also worked for in MotoGP.
The shakedown test will take place in Sepang on February 5-7, before a full official test at the Malaysian Grand Prix venue on February 10-12.
