With the departure of Team Suzuki Ecstar, Yamaha will be, from 2023 onwards, the only manufacturer to offer an inline four-cylinder engine for MotoGP. Recently, Team Director Massimo Meregalli has not completely closed the door on a move to a V4 concept.
Niccolo Canepa is one of Yamaha’s riders in endurance racing, and GPOne.com wanted to know his opinion on this possible change. The Italian said that the subject is somewhat complex, with a change that would require a lot of time, a lot of testing and a lot of resources:
– I read something; all the possibilities are open. Of course, when you make a change like this it takes a long time to sort out everything around it. The bike is built around the engine, so it would start almost from scratch for the electronics, the chassis. It would take a very crowded test program, a big budget and also a lot of time to work. But on the other hand, you must always understand if they really want to do it.
More specifically, Canepa referred to Yamaha’s recent successes, even in the face of their engine shortcomings: ‘They won in 2021, they are winning again this year. Fabio is in front even if he has had difficult races, so the bike works.’