Current VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi is finalising a move to the factory Aprilia MotoGP for the upcoming MotoGP season, Autosport understands.
This move comes a year after three-time MotoGP grand prix winner Bezzecchi elected against a factory-spec Ducati at Pramac for 2024 to remain with his VR46 set-up on a year-old Desmosedici.
Autosport understands that the deal that will take the Italian to become Jorge Martin's team-mate in the Aprilia factory structure should be finalised in the coming days.
As talks with Aprilia intensified in recent days, Ducati developed a strategy to try to kill two birds with one stone: the idea was to avoid losing Bezzecchi and Pramac by unifying them.
Ultimately this plan has not come to pass with Bezzecchi set to sign for Aprilia, and Paolo Campinoti's Pramac team likely to sign with Yamaha as its new bike supplier.
It is striking that Bezzecchi would rather ride an RS-GP than the latest generation Desmosedici, whose performance, on paper, should be better than that of the Aprilia.
It is also true that the quality leap of the GP24 has been greater than he had projected, with Bezzecchi struggling for form on the GP23 so far after seven rounds. He sits 11th in the standings, two behind VR46 team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio.
The arrival of Marc Marquez in the official Ducati garage in 2025, when he will become Francesco Bagnaia's team-mate, has caused some discomfort in Valentino Rossi's entourage, both in the training academy that bears his name and in VR46.
Autosport understands that Ducati and VR46 are one step away from renewing their alliance and fortifying it a little more with factory bikes, provided that Pramac accepts Yamaha's proposal.
Precisely for this reason, Marquez's signing is considered a threat to the eco-system that has ruled until now, which has seen Bagnaia celebrate the last two MotoGP titles, and positioned VR46 as the perfect ally for Ducati.
"What is clear is that Marc's signing has not gone down well," a VR46 source says.
"It's not just that he has blown the brand's philosophy out of the water, but also that he will certainly not bring stability."
The addition of such a controversial figure as Marquez to the VR46 universe may well have prompted a reaction of mistrust on the part of Bezzecchi, who also fits perfectly with the profile Aprilia is looking for - an Italian manufacturer that expects to welcome with open arms a rider of the same nationality.
