The press release in black and white still isn’t there, but today Pablo Nieto has dissolved the last doubts, which in reality were not doubts: Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi will be the riders of Team VR46 in MotoGP next season and the week will be already riding their Ducatis in the collective tests at Jerez de la Frontera.
“Next week we will do the MotoGP tests,” said Nieto, team manager of the Valentino Rossi facility, speaking to the official website of the championship. “As everyone knows, we will test with Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi, who will be our drivers”.
As mentioned, this was no longer a secret, given that Rossi himself had repeatedly talked about his brother and the other student of the VR46 Riders Academy as well as his future MotoGP riders, but a bit of clarity needed to be clarified precisely because the week next there is an important test and until now there was only the certainty of the agreement with the Borgo Panigale manufacturer.
The two riders will not have the same material at their disposal: the more experienced, therefore Luca Marini, who already has a year in the premier class behind him, will be able to count on a factory version of the Desmosedici GP, therefore identical to that of the official riders and the standard-bearers. of Pramac Racing.
As for Bezzecchi, Nieto explained that it will still be a competitive bike: “It will have the bike from 2021. I don’t know if it will be Bagnaia’s or Miller’s one, but it will be available from next week in Jerez. important, because we will start with the bike he will have for the whole season “.
Speaking of the composition of the staff, there will be an important transfer of technicians who have accompanied Rossi in his career: David Munoz, current technical head of the “Doctor”, will become that of Marini. Alongside Bezzecchi there will be Matteo Flamigni, who will thus pass to the role of technical chief after having been a telemetry operator for many years. Both will then be able to use Idalio Gavira as a coach.
Bezzecchi will therefore be the fifth rookie on the MotoGP grid in 2022: the two Moto2 title contenders, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, will make their debut in KTM Tech3. Fabio Di Giannantonio will arrive at Gresini, also on a Ducati, while Darryn Binder will even make the direct jump from Moto3 to MotoGP on the RNF Yamaha.
Speaking of the Moto2 class, Nieto also confirmed the name of Celestino Vietti’s teammate for 2022. Next to the Piedmontese, Niccolò Antonelli will be promoted by Moto3, who will therefore make the leap to the intermediate class after ten seasons in the incoming one.
Now the knot linked to the sponsor remains to be solved, after in recent months we have seen a rebound of confirmations and denials regarding the agreement signed with the Saudi oil giant Aramco. On this front too, however, we hope to have more precise news as soon as possible.
Luca Marini, Esponsorama Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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