The Quickshift
- Valentino Rossi’s very own VR46 Racing Team will receive Ducati Factory support from 2025.
- The VR46 Racing Team has a storied history in the MotoGP, starting out in Moto3 back in 2014, and now being a mainstay in the MotoGP paddock.
- It remains to be seen how Ducati Factory support will shape the performance of VR46, which currently sits in the middle of the pack in terms of standings.
Big news for fans of Valentino Rossi, as the VR46 Racing Team will be Ducati’s official MotoGP factory-supported team. The news was just announced by Ducati Corse, with the arrangement set to be a “multi-year agreement.”
The VR46 Racing Team was founded back in 2014 by nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi. Back then, the VR46 Racing Team fielded Moto3 racers under the Sky Racing Team VR46, and had the goal of encouraging young Italian riders to step up in the global stage.
Indeed, the VR46 Racing Team has quite a storied history, with some of the top racers in the game having started out in the team. In fact, reigning MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia won his first Moto2 World Title with VR46 back in 2018. Much more recently, Marco Bezzecchi took third place in the 2023 MotoGP season, racing for VR46.
Fast forward to 2024, and the VR46 Racing Team is a prominent player in the premiere class. This year, the team has Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio as its frontrunners, who currently sit at 11th and 8th, respectively. Hopefully, given the recent developments with Ducati, the additional support will help the team perform better in the coming season.
Commenting on the recent development, Luigi Dall'Igna, Ducati Corse’s General Manager, expressed his excitement towards the factory support extended to the VR46 Racing Team. “From day one, the VR46 Racing Team has shown its ability to work in perfect harmony with Ducati, and in recent years, we achieved important results together. We are happy, therefore, to be able to fortify our relationship further, providing the Pesaro-based team with full factory support starting next season.”
Despite culminating his career aboard Yamaha machinery, Rossi’s VR46 team has always had close ties with Italian manufacturer Ducati. And it’s pretty cool to see that The Doctor’s racing team will now be the factory racing team of the House of Borgo Panigale from 2025 onwards.
Alessio Salucci, the Team Director of the VR46 Racing Team, looks forward to the team’s performance aboard Ducati’s latest machinery. “I can only be proud to announce that from the next year the VR46 Racing Team will be the Ducati Factory Supported Team in MotoGP. We will be on track with an official bike and a GP24. If they had said it a few years ago, I wouldn't have believed it,” he said.
As of this writing, there are still 12 rounds left for this year’s MotoGP season. So it’s safe to say that pretty much anyone could take home the championship. As usual, however, Ducati’s been dominating the circuit, with the top four in the standings racing aboard Ducati machinery.
And so, there’s a big chance that Ducati will once again take home the constructors championship this year.
