Yamaha has been one of the constructors with the poorest results in recent years in MotoGP. As such, it is in the concession tier, which allows for more opportunities to test and develop the bike – a situation they’ve been taking advantage of, working on the YZR-M1 in private tests as well as during Grand Prix weekends.
This is the scenario Miguel Oliveira will face in 2025. The current Trackhouse Racing rider will be one of the riders at Prima Pramac, Yamaha’s new partner, tasked with helping to improve the YZR-M1.
When asked in a press conference if the amount of focus on testing Yamaha needs could result in a loss of opportunity to fight for podiums, the #88 replied:
– Physically I don’t think so. The more time you spend on the bike, is always nice, it’s a different kind of training – for sure more complete than go to the gym or cycling in my opinion. So that’s always welcome. Also it depends on the phase we are on the project. For sure now we need to invest a lot of time testing, and probably the approach to the weekends is always quite flat in terms of expectations, but I hope we start losing concession points and hopefully we stop the testing sooner than what we think.