Racing V4 in MotoGP 2026 is ‘clear target’ for Yamaha

Yamaha boss Paolo Pavesio has confirmed that there is a ‘clear target’ for the manufacturer to race its new V4 engine in MotoGP in 2026.

The Japanese team – the only one currently running an inline four in MotoGP races – has been developing the V4 behind the scenes since last year. The engine and bike conform to the current rule set, which ends after 2026.

This project is thus additional to that of preparing a new Yamaha for 2027, when all manufacturers will have to produce something different to conform to the 850cc formula.

Speaking at the German Grand Prix on Saturday, Pavesio said the target was for the “current-spec” V4 to race next year.

While he admitted that it was by no means guaranteed that Yamaha would achieve that target, he explained that the V4 project would prove a worthwhile investment for 2027 either way.

“We have to move into this new engine configuration for 2027 for sure,” he said. “This is somehow a bit of an unknown world. The bike is changing, the balance of the bike is changing, so you need to learn things.

“This is why we have decided to anticipate the effort and maybe to build a bike for [only] one year… because we are still not sure that we will race in 2026 with the new V4-based machine – even if this is clearly the target.

“We need to start collecting new information and learn a new kind of configuration, looking to 2027 but already potentially starting from 2026. This is why we are doing what we are doing.

“It’s an incredibly challenging but also exciting moment. We try to do as much as we can on the current bike to make it more competitive. I think, as we said, we have already seen a clear performance increase.

“We are developing a bike for 2026 and we are also working in parallel on the bike for 2027. It’s complex, it’s exciting, but it’s also needed if we want to be back where we want to be.”

While the V4 bike has only been ridden by Yamaha’s test riders so far, Fabio Quartararo is expected to try it in September.

His team-mate Alex Rins saw the bike in action for the first time in a test at Brno last week, reporting that it had reached a level around two seconds per lap slower than the current race bike.