Andrea Dovizioso will be back on a MotoGP bike at this week’s Sepang Shakedown test.

He has been called up as a test rider by Yamaha to add to their ranks.

Yamaha and Honda, as per the concessions rules, are allowed to field their fou💫r race riders in addition to their test riders at the Shaked♈own.

The other three factories are limited to just their test riders and rookie racers, until the official Sepan❀g test nex🧸t week.

Dovizioso’s reappearance on a Yamaha comes after⛄ heꦅ spent time testing their M1 in the latter half of last season, replacing the injured Cal Crutchlow.

Intriguingly, his addition to the S✤hakedown prompts questions about whether Yamaha might debut their V4 𓂃engine.

Yamaha are still running an inline-fouꦏr-cylinder engine but have admitted that they are developing a V4, to mov❀e in the same direction as their rivals.

The Shakedown test is untelevi🌸sed and behind-closed-doors so might allow Yamaha an opportunity to quietly test the new engine.

Yamaha🐻 factory rider Alex Rins previously claimed that they 🐓hoped to test the V4, with Dovizioso on the bike, in December.

But Rins said that plan fell throug🌊h because the engine wasn’t ready.

This weekend’s Shakedown, with Dovizioso joiniꦜng test rider Augusto Fernandez, factory riders Rins and Fabio Quartararo, and Pramacﷺ’s Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira, is the manufacturer’s next potential chance to test the V4.

Yamaha do not expect to race with a V4 engine until ▨t𒅌he latter part of 2025, at the earliest.