Toprak "licensed to surprise", Yamaha out in full force: Shakedown show at Sepang

The second day of Shakedown in Sepang is also in the books, with eyes mostly on Yamaha.

From today the Yamaha crew is out in full force on track at Sepang. The only manufacturer left in concession rank D is also the only one allowed a particularly substantial presence during the three Shakedown days, primarily dedicated to test riders and rookies, which precede the official tests scheduled for February 3–5. There were some technical problems and crashes: in the first case it was Aleix Espargaro, while incidents for Kallio, Pirro and Pol Espargaro were recorded, with no consequences for the testers. Below are all of today’s times as well.

Two amusing images appeared today at the Malaysian track. The luxury rookie knows full well he has a particularly difficult “mission” ahead of him, but there’s no shortage of light-hearted moments during testing, alongside the on-track effort, of course. The second striking image is Fabio Quartararo seemingly sunbathing, as if also in meditation.

Since yesterday the Monster Energy Yamaha rider has been even more in the spotlight due to the market bomb that has gone around the web, namely the sensational switch from Yamaha to Honda... Time will tell, but for now it’s time to focus on the track: all efforts are going into the new M1 V4, a very young project on which the experienced Andrea Dovizioso and the younger Augusto Fernandez (remember, he only joined Yamaha last year) have been working from the start. Will it be the answer to all the M1’s problems? That’s exactly what Quartararo wants to know, as do Alex Rins and Jack Miller, who like the Frenchman were on track today after sitting out the first shakedown day, when only Fernandez ran for the tuning fork brand. Today, however, the Spaniard alternated with Dovizioso on a single Yamaha, likely a “laboratory” version.

An interesting point concerns the third tester fielded by KTM, namely Mika Kallio, the most experienced in the project, having been part of it well before the MotoGP entry. According to crash.net, it’s suspected that the Finnish tester is riding the 850cc, that is, the new bike to be introduced when the 2027 revolution arrives. Like all manufacturers, they must work on two parallel projects this year—time is already tight… KTM was again on track today with all three test riders, making it the second most substantial presence in this shakedown after Yamaha. Only one tester, instead, for Ducati (Michele Pirro), Aprilia (Lorenzo Savadori) and Honda, which has only Aleix Espargaro on track. The Japanese brand, however, does have two riders: clearly the rookie Diogo Moreira, who, like direct rival Toprak Razgatlioglu, needs to rack up miles to be ready for his premier class debut.