Quartararo 100% Leads Yamaha M1 V4 Test at Buriram MotoGP Pre-Season

Fabio Quartararo, nicknamed 'El Diablo', the French racing star from Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, has returned to the track fully recovered, leading the Yamaha full team alongside Alex Rins, Jack Miller, and Toprak Razgatlioglu in testing the Yamaha YZR-M1 V4 at the MotoGP 2026 pre-season test at Chang International Circuit in Buriram. The final pre-season test of the 2026 MotoGP season passed through its first day on Saturday, February 21, amid Buriram's extremely hot weather, which was another critical test for the Japanese factory team. This weekend marks a significant step for Yamaha after a major transformation from an Inline-4 to a V4 engine in the YZR-M1 race bike, designed to meet the challenges of modern MotoGP racing, representing a crucial technical and setup challenge. In the first day's test results, Jack Miller, the Australian rider number 43 from Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP, ranked 17th with a lap time of 1 minute 30.325 seconds, trailing the lead by 1.063 seconds. 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo, number 20, worked intensively with the new package, finishing the first day in 18th place with a lap time of 1 minute 30.507 seconds, 1.245 seconds behind the leader. His Spanish teammate Alex Rins, number 42, ranked 19th, trailing by 1.250 seconds. Toprak Razgatlioglu, a three-time World Superbike Champion from Turkey, made his first test at Buriram with Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP, focusing on adapting to the track and bike, finishing 21st, 2.312 seconds behind the leader. The Yamaha riders will continue testing at Buriram for a full day on Sunday, February 22, with the goal of gathering in-depth data to develop the M1 V4 race bike to its best potential, ahead of the MotoGP season opener in Thailand next weekend.