The team started transitioning into their new Yamaha era with Oliveira and Jack Miller as soon as Pramac won the world championship in their last race with Jorge Martin and Ducati.

The Portuguese driver, who finished third in the Sachsenring Sprint, the season's best finish for Trackhouse, drove the factory-spec M1 over the Catalunya circuit 60 times. Oliveira remarked, “It was very, very different from what I was used to for sure”.

“Especially in the braking phase it's super different. But I have to say it was also a bike that is straight away, very rider friendly”.

“The bike gives you good feedback to tell you where the wheels are, and that's super important .”

According to the five-time MotoGP race winner, however, the fastest bike is typically not the most comfortable.

"I think we're going to get an opportunity to work on that for sure," he stated, adding that "we're not looking for real comfort or having a bike that is friendly to the rider, but a bike that is fast."

On the testing timesheets, Oliveira's best time placed him 17th, 1.335 seconds behind leader Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and 0.939 seconds behind factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo's quickest M1. Oliveira went on, "I would say it was just a good setup day."

Although Yamaha is planning to release a new V4 engine, the 29-year-old refrained from drawing any detailed comparisons between the M1 Inline4 and the V4s he has already raced in his MotoGP career.

Miller, whose KTM contract prevented him from speaking to the media, finished 22nd fastest, 2.2 seconds behind Alex Marquez.

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A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn