Misano MotoGP test: New engine puts Quartararo back on top

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo finished his work with a new engine spec at the top of the Misano test timesheets, finishing with a with a 1’31.054, the fastest time overall.

Much of the pre-test talk centred around Yamaha’s new engine, and the top speed charts made for very encouraging reading. Quartararo clocked 298.3km/h in the pre-lunchtime running on Wednesday, third on that metric at less than 2km/h slower than Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) recorded on one of the Bologna bullets otherwise known as a Ducati.

Quartararo admitted he used a slipstream to achieve that speed, but was still quite happy with what the Iwata manufacturer has rolled out. He was fastest in that morning session on a 1’31.116 before shaving off a little more time in the afternoon to consolidate his place at the top.

Yamaha also worked on a new chassis, as well as new aerodynamic pieces, with different versions seen on the bikes of Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, who finished the test 12th-fastest overall. While Misano is very much about developing a bike for the following season, it might also give Quartararo a big boost to his hopes of back-to-back World Championship titles, given Team Manager Massimo Meregalli says that the new chassis could appear as soon as the upcoming Gran Premio Animoca Brands de Aragon.

Intriguingly, Meregalli also reported that Yamaha may have found a way to achieve more power this year, which would require a development somewhere other than the engine. What have they got up their sleeve, and we will see the evidence of that in Aragon also?

Marc Marquez completed another 61 laps on Day 2 of the Misano test. It was certainly not the most mileage, but he notched up a solid haul in both of the