2025 Sepang MotoGP Shakedown Test Day 3 Times - Quartararo Ends Shakedown As Fastest

By David Emmett |

Fabio Quartararo has ended the three-day shakedown test at Sepang as the fastest rider, and the only one to get into the 1'57s. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider was three tenths quicker than the rest of the field, and two tenths off his own qualifying time at the Malaysian GP last year in November.

Jack Miller was second fastest on the Prima Pramac Yamaha, in what looks like a positive sign of his adaptation to the Yamaha, while Honda test rider Aleix Espargaro was a few thousandths slower on the Honda RC213V. Ai Ogura has made an impressive start as a rookie, four tenths behind Fabio Quartararo, and two tenths quicker than Fermín Aldeguer on the Gresini Ducati.

Though the test took place behind closed doors, the few photos to emerge have shown KTM, Ducati, and Honda all working on new aero, including a revised air inlet for the KTM (which implies a different shape to the top wings) and changes to the tail winglets and especially the side ducts on the Ducati, producing even more downforce in cornering.

There was no sign of Yamaha's V4, and according to this interview by Peter McLaren of Crash.net, Yamaha's new managing director Paolo Pavesio, the V4 won't be tested at Sepang, both riders and test team focusing on the inline 4 which Yamaha intend to race for the rest of the 2025 season. The V4 may get tested in public later this year, but probably won't be raced until 2026. And even then, only if it is an improvement on Yamaha's existing I4 design.

The paddock now takes a three-day break as the teams and contracted riders fly in for the official three-day IRTA test which starts on Wednesday, February 5th. There we will see just how meaningful the times set at the shakedown test have been.

I will be on the ground in Sepang, reporting what I see and hear from there. You can sign up to read my insights from the test by becoming a motomatters subscriber, or you can help me cover the costs of my reporting by making a contribution via Paypal or Ko-Fi.

Times at the end of the final day of the shakedown test at Sepang, courtesy of Peter McLaren:

Pos No Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha M1 1:57.794    
2 43 Jack Miller Yamaha M1 1:58.103 0.309 0.309
3 41 Aleix Espargaro+ Honda RC213V 1:58.106 0.312 0.003
4 79 Ai Ogura* Aprilia RS-GP 1:58.208 0.414 0.102
5 44 Pol Espargaro+ KTM RC16 1:58.291 0.497 0.083
6 54 Fermin Aldeguer* Ducati GP24 1:58.421 0.627 0.130
7 42 Alex Rins Yamaha M1 1:58.489 0.695 0.068
8 88 Miguel Oliveira Yamaha M1 1:58.526 0.732 0.037
9 26 Dani Pedrosa+ KTM RC16 1:59.080 1.286 0.554
10 51 Michele Pirro+ Ducati GP25 1:59.508 1.714 0.428
11 32 Lorenzo Savadori+ Aprilia RS-GP 1:59.843 2.049 0.335
12 4 Test Rider+ Yamaha M1 2:00.115 2.321 0.272
13 35 Somkiat Chantra* Honda RC213V 2:00.550 2.756 0.435

* Rookie
+ Test rider

    Records      
Year No Rider Bike Time Session
2024 1 Pecco Bagnaia Ducati GP24 1:56.337 Q2
2023 73 Alex Marquez Ducati GP22 1:58.979 Race
2025
0
MotoGP
Sepang, Malaysia
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Comments

How far have they NOT come?

Seriously, it’s 2025 not 1969.

For reference, Porsche went from bit-player to major contender, and then absolutely dominating sports car racing with the 917.

They had considered various engine configurations in stepping up from the minor leagues to the 5.0L class, and settled on a flat 12. But a 12 cylinder long crank, with the drive off the end is a potential disaster with massive flex issues. 

The answer? Taking the drive from the MIDDLE of the crank down into the gearbox. Revolutionary stuff.

The chassis, at a time when monocoque construction was taking over they trod an alternative path: an aluminium tube space-frame pressurised to monitor crack formation.

They created that incredible machine, from a blank sheet of paper (literally), in 10 months.

It blows my mind that, in 2025 with all the supposed development and manufacturing efficiency’s that have come to light in the following 56 years that Yamaha can’t develop a comparatively simple motorcycle in a similar (or better!) timeframe.

Furasawa-san reconfigured the very ordinary Biaggi/Checa M1 into Rossi’s Welkom-winning M1 in far less time.

Considering how many physical hard-points, CoG, steering rake/ trail, swingarm length/angle, rider interface triangle etc etc are already known it seems incredible, in an age where a billet engine block can be CNC machined overnight, that Yamaha have not made more progress.

Or do they not want display the progress they have made?

 

 

Porsche took advantage of a blip in the rules which allowed 5L motors with reduced homologation numbers for I think four years as they transitioned to 3L rules. Nobody else made a serious new effort, Ferrari later. The car killed a privateer on the first lap of its first Le Mans, the race which was the main reason for it existing. The others retired. It needed work too. It was for a brief period, a step change, an expensive one, produced to gain an overall Le Mans win. 

A Yamaha V4 is not going to turn MotoGP on its head. It's a 1000 for a 1000. Currently they have a competitive inline 4 and are building a new V4. Until that V4 can beat the inline in terms of performance and reliability (or at least come near) there's zero point in running it in races. They can test as much as they like, with any rider, all year. They can race any engine too. If they had to run the engine they start the season with, there would be good reason to get it on track. They can run it anytime.

I think you're underestimating the fact that the 3 euro manufacturers have been pursuing the new MotoGP standard for years? Yamaha need to discover all the little tweaks and tricks from the last 5(?) years of state-of-the-art

 

Are you  completly clueless regarding the complexity of racing motorcycles? Why doesn't Honda make a competitieve MotoGP bike or CBR1000 in 10 months so they can win again ? Why did it take Ducati more than 10 years tot be competitieve again ? Why didn't KTM built a race winning bike the first time, why do they still built a bike that is not as good as the Ducati ? Are they all that dumb or are they just trying there best NOT tot win ? Or isn't it that simpele ?

I’ve a Ducati WSBK engine in my latest project that basically employs Motogp tech of the time to enable a twin, with its inherently poor valve area, to compete with equal displacement IL4’s. 7075-T6, Ti 6Al-4V swarf, carbon/kevlar detritus often covers the floor of my shed, albeit produced by an enthusiastic amateur.
But these bikes are not made from unobtainium, they are not black magic, and these days hold very little truly revolutionary technology. Pneumatic valves have been around for nearly 40 years, holeshot devices used in motocross for decades, Honda debuted the seamless gearbox way back in 2011. 
The rules prevent exotica like hollow conrods or crazy materials so they are mostly established tech taken to the Nth degree. Some of it is even “agricultural”in concept if not practice, such as hydraulic controls as stipulated by the rules where left unfettered electronics would be the preferred control system.
Many components are supplied by 3rd parties, and tricky bits and bobs like seamless gearboxes have already been developed so a large part of the bike has actually already been built: brakes, suspension, electronics, wheels, controls. 
So this is mostly about an engine. But let’s not forget: this is not KTM starting from scratch, this is Yamaha, who have a proud history of building amazing engines, from the Toyota 2000GT way back in the day, to the Lexus LFA V10, right up to F1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_F1_engine

You probably wouldn’t think so from their current engine in Motogp, but ENGINE’S ARE THEIR JAM.

Ducati went off the rails in trying to reinvent the wheel with the monococque frame design. Great in engineering theory, but not so good for the fleshware trying to make it work. But Yamaha won’t make that sort of leap, not with their reputation for great handling, if underpowered, bikes.

I’m just of the opinion that modelling and simulation only takes you so far: get the thing on track, establish a baseline and work from there: you can’t fix problems if you don’t put yourself in a position to find them.

If the late great John Britten can hand build almost every component on his TRULY revolutionary bike in less than a year, surely Yamaha can absolutely do something similar with all the resources at hand….if they want to. I just don’t think it’s part of their short term plans, the urgency just isn’t there.


 

 

I do while away a few nightshift hours documenting the travails of someone at the left hand side of the intelligence bell curve playing with his bikes, but this is Dave’s fantastic platform and not for me to corrupt.

Suffice to say I’ve paid a lot of money to professionals to screw things up on my behalf, now I just leave out the middle man and screw things up myself, at least I’ll learn something from it.

Yeah, those 999RS/F0 engines really are Motogp spec twins. For all that the Ducati WSBK bikes informed Motogp development (desmo, trellis frame, oval TB’s etc), Motogp also cross pollinated their WSBK effort in that era.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wHfuTuL1DPc

I mean, fondling a road going cast valve rocker is nice enough…but fondling a light weight DLC coated billet steel valve rocker is positively pervy…a cylinder head full of these things, is engineering perfection.

The Pistal pistons are similarly next level, with the wrist pin pushed way up under the crown, and bridging therein. Why? To eke out a few extra mm of H-beam Pankl Ti conrod length, which means a little more dwell time at TDC exposed to combustion pressure, which equals more torque/ hp.

I can believe that £1mil bill. Ducati, in all their bureaucratic glory, supply fantastic documentation for their WSBK and Motogp efforts, “Sostituzione” (replace) is written large against a whole heap of major engine components at just 500 km. I dread to think what those psrts would have cost at the time. 

I have a single page of their GP07 manual….let’s just say “anal retentive” is a way of life at Ducati.

Funny you mention the uber-cool Airwaves bikes. One of Haslam’s Airwaves bikes found its way Downunder, the spare pre-preg carbon fairings (super stiff!) from that package found their way onto my wee project.

Apologies for the tangent.

Be intriguing to see when Ducati unveil their ‘next step’ in aerodynamics on the GP25. From what I seen Pirro been running the same GP24 fairings? 

I expect Gigi's updated aero will be made public about five minutes before the deadline for homologation. 

Leaving the least amount of time for the other manufacturers to engage in that sincerest form of flattery, imitation. Copying,  stealing ideas, whatever you may call it.

We will see.  

For comparison, FQ did 1:57:5 in the official test last yeon race weekendd in Q2 . So no great leap forward has been made. That said, the bike seems to suit Jack Ass, so we will see what happens later this week.

Conditions and priorities vary....... dubious to compare lap times across a weekend, let alone across a year. Better to wait and see how the M1 does compared to other bikes on the same day.

Pit Beirer just said hope was to switch Moto3 to a single supplier 500cc twin engine alike Moto2 for 2027 but that timeline does not look realistic. Also that manus have not shown much interest in providing them so far. 

So good news, just engines rather than a spec bike. Sounds great to me!