According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the new people Fabio Quartararo referred to when justifying staying with Iwata's team is Luca Marmorini, who was head of engines for the Maranello team until 2014. The Italian engineer contributed to the development of Aprilia's current powertrain
Yamaha has turned to Ferrari for reinforcement to improve the engine of the YZR-M1. According to the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Luca Marmorini has been appointed by Iwata to work as a consultant in the development of the propeller of the prototype of the three tuning for the 2023 season of MotoGP.
The 60-year-old engineer has had two stints with Ferrari in Formula 1, where he even served as head of engines. His career at Maranello began in the 1990s, but was interrupted by a move to Toyota. Marmorini returned to the Italian squad in 2009 and stayed there until 2014.
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The collaboration with Yamaha, however, will not be Luca's first in MotoGP. The Italian has already worked as a consultant for Aprilia, including on the development of the current RS-GP engine. Marmorini was recruited to the house of Noale by Massimo Rivola, who also came from Ferrari.
Mamorini's arrival is part of Yamaha's effort not only to improve the bike, but also to keep Fabio Quartararo. Last week, the Japanese announced the renewal of the Frenchman's contract for another two years, and the reigning champion made it clear that the reiterated confidence in the factory was also the result of the arrival of new people.
"It was not an easy decision. And we took a little more time to evaluate the whole project. As you can imagine, we weren't just talking to Yamaha," Fabio told us. "At one point my head was going one way, then a week later it was going another way, and it was a little bit difficult," he continued.
"Basically, my first goal is to have the best bike and the best design. And they convinced me, because they are bringing in new people, engineers, and they know exactly what they need to improve," he stressed. "In the past, maybe they were working in some areas, but maybe they didn't really accept that the bike was slower than the others. Now they know and are clearly going to work on this weak point," he pointed out.
"To be fair, I feel super good on the bike. Of course, every rider wants more. But the one thing I lack compared to the others is speed. So that's what made me make the decision to stay with Yamaha. I know they are committed to bring more power and I feel good on the bike," he said. "I am super happy, because they really understand and are doing the best job to find what is missing. A lot of people, engineers, are going to the engine side and working on this part of the bike," he announced.
Fabio of this, however, that the engineers who went to reinforce the engine development were already in-house employees, transferred from other departments.
"They are already at Yamaha," he concluded.
MotoGP returns to the track on June 19 for the German GP at Sachsenring, the tenth round of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.