{"id":831865,"date":"2026-08-31T11:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/831865\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:54:11","slug":"fabio-quartararo-refuses-to-be-yamahas-test-rider-as-he-reaches-breaking-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/831865\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabio Quartararo refuses to be Yamaha\u2019s \u201ctest rider\u201d as he reaches breaking point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fabio Quartararo<\/a> says he will no longer help Yamaha with development work pertaining to the 2027 MotoGP season after being denied a chance to test Pirelli\u2019s new tyres.<\/p>\n

The 2021 champion made that comment following last weekend\u2019s Aragon Grand Prix, where he felt he was reduced to the role of a \u201ctest rider\u201d as Yamaha evaluated several new components.<\/p>\n

Quartararo is leaving Yamaha after eight seasons to join Honda next year, having completely lost faith in the Iwata-based manufacturer to turn around its troubled MotoGP bike.<\/p>\n

And having spent the first half of the campaign running an underpowered, new\u00a0V4 engine Yamaha has developed ahead of next year\u2019s switch to 850cc regulations, the 27-year-old feels now is the time to draw a line under his involvement in the bike\u2019s development.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cAs far as the future is concerned, I\u2019m not in a position to help. And for personal reasons, I don\u2019t want to help,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make progress this year. But ultimately, if things don\u2019t improve, there\u2019s not much we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quartararo clarified that his frustration stemmed from Yamaha denying him a chance to take part in September\u2019s in-season test at the Red Bull Ring, where race riders will be allowed to sample Pirelli\u2019s new 2027 tyre compounds for only the second time.<\/p>\n

When asked to clarify what he meant by \u201cpersonal reasons\u201d, Quartararo added: \u201cTo set the record straight, the thing is\u2026 I don\u2019t know if I should say this, but I\u2019m going to say it anyway: I wanted to do the tests in Austria. But unfortunately, Yamaha don\u2019t want me to ride on Pirelli tyres. I wanted to do something, but they won\u2019t let me.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t want to develop the bike for the 2027 riders. So, if we can improve something for this year, I\u2019ll do it. But I\u2019m not going to push myself to the limit and act as a test rider like I did this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fabio <\/p>\n

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Stephen Blackberry \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

For riders, getting any experience on the new rubber is crucial, given how different it is expected to be from the current Michelins. But manufacturers have been more reserved about letting their departing riders take part in such in-season tests, as that would also mean letting them sample their new 850cc bikes and potentially taking secrets to other manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Even so, during the first official 2027 test at Brno in June, Honda allowed its current riders Luca Marini<\/a> and Joan Mir<\/a> to test its 2027 package, complete with Pirelli tyres, despite both moving to rival brands next year.<\/p>\n

Likewise, Pedro Acosta<\/a> led the development of KTM\u2019s 2027 bike in the Czech Republic, even as he prepares to join the factory Ducati team<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n

Why did Quartararo get so frustrated at Aragon?<\/p>\n

Quartararo was tasked with testing a wide variety of developments throughout the Aragon weekend, including a new chassis. But while the introduction of new parts suggested Yamaha was still pushing to close the gap to the front, Quartararo felt the new direction only left the team going backwards.<\/p>\n

The extensive testing work also complicated what was already expected to be one of the toughest weekends for Quartararo, and he ended up finishing last in Sunday\u2019s race, more than 50 seconds behind winner Marc Marquez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asked for his feedback on the new chassis on Saturday, he said: \u201cIt’s worse. On Friday, I said it was worse. They wanted to compare again this morning. It was worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was more of a test rider this weekend. Testing three times the chassis but it was not working. We had a new link also. It was not an improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI basically ran with a standard bike. But when you jump from one chassis to another, even if the difference is not too big\u2026 already the feeling is not there but I was a bit confused. But it is what it is and we are trying to find more performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Quartararo says he will no longer help Yamaha with development work pertaining to the 2027 MotoGP season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[352310,4,450,352309,352307,451,108946,352311,3,452,453,352308],"class_list":["post-831865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-aragon-gp","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-fabio-quartararo","tag-fabio-quartararo-refuses-to-be-yamahau2019s-u201ctest-rideru201d-as-he-reaches-breaking-point","tag-headlines","tag-motogp","tag-motorland-aragon","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-yamaha-factory-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}