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 four race riders in addition to their test riders at th✃e Shaked🌊own.

The other three factories are limited to just their test riders and rookie racer😼s, until the official Sepang test next week.

🌃Dovizioso’s reappearance on a Yamaha comes after he spent time testing their Mꦐ1 in the latter half of last season, replacing the injured Cal Crutchlow.

Intriguingly, his additiꦛon to the Shaked🍎own prompts questions about whether Yamaha might debut their V4 engine.

Yamaha are stiཧll running an inline-four-cylinder engine but have admitted th🎃at they are developing a V4, to move in the same direction as their rivals.

The Shakedown test is untelevised and behind-cl🤡osed-doors so might allow Yamaha an opportunity to quietly test the new engine.

꧙Yamaha 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 through because the engine wasn’t ready.

This weekend’s S💜hakedown, with Doviziosওo joining test rider Augusto Fernandez, factory riders Rins and Fabio Quartararo, and Pramac’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 the latter part of 2025, at the earliest.