MotoGP fans are in for an exciting time as major changes are emerging that hint at what’s to come in the 2025 season, even though the 2024 season is still ongoing. Yamaha is undoubtedly the manufacturer that has been in the news the most recently out of all those that have been creating a lot of excitement around the premier racing series. First off, it has been verified that Yamaha is developing a new V4 engine, which will eventually replace its extremely powerful but dated cross-plane inline-four.
And while the fans can’t expect to see a Yamaha race bike powered by a V4 engine on the MotoGP grid until at least 2026, the Yamaha paddock will welcome a talented rider for the 2025 season. Yes, we are talking about Australian star racer Jack Miller, who was officially drafted to the Prima Pramac Yamaha Factory Team. Miller will join Yamaha on a one-year contract for the 2025 season, but his renewal is contingent upon approval for the following season.
Lin Jarvis, the Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, expressed his excitement for Miller joining Yamaha in 2025. With 10 years of experience in the MotoGP class with three different manufacturers, Jack will be a valuable asset for Yamaha. His speed, knowledge, work ethic, and team spirit will be invaluable to our project as we plan to improve the performance of the M1 in 2025 and beyond, he said.
The test team is a little bit of a mess, so we have to test. Jack and Miguel on the factory bikes will help a lot to develop the bikes, so I think it’s many positives coming to Yamaha, and I think the bike will improve quite a lot, Jarvis added.
Miller has been competing for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team for the past two years. With several races remaining in the calendar, the 29-year-old Australian, who is currently ranked 15th in the 2024 standings, has had a mediocre season thus far. Nevertheless, there is still a high potential that the Australian racer may improve his position in the leaderboard table.
Having said all of that, it is evident that Jack Miller wants to join the Prima Pramac Yamaha Factory Team in 2025 to have a stronger season. Miguel Oliveira, a colleague who likewise transfers from Aprilia to Yamaha for 2025, will accompany him. Let’s all send our best wishes to Jack Miller for the remaining 2024 season and the forthcoming 2025 season. Hopefully, fans will see many more shoeys from Miller on the podium.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what things are going to happen in the future, Miller said. Only having the two bikes on the grid has not been easy for Yamaha, he asserted. Me having the experience of three different manufacturers as well as quite different configurations of bikes—Miguel as well, experiencing the KTM and the Aprilia—just some input from the other manufacturers in terms of what we’re feeling, I think that can help. It seems like they’ve got a clear strategy and a clear direction ahead at the moment, the Australian added.
The top three manufacturers are right now with V4, and for many years Yamaha has been with their inline-four engine. I’m not an engineer who says, ‘We have to go with the V4’, but in the end, it has been quite a long time since we are aware that Yamaha is working on it. They are at least trying to put everything together for many months; we see new people, a new mentality, and the way they are working, I think, Yamaha is doing a great job, he concluded.
