Valentino Rossi’s plans and the future of his VR46 team in MotoGP seem to be getting clearer and clearer: Tavuglia is poised to seize key trump cards from Faenza thanks to an overseas partnership. There are several goals at once, but they are all achievable. Everything in order.
The first thing that has already been said: Valentino Rossi has successfully negotiated with the Saudi prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Saud on the creation of a joint project, the goal of which is a grandiose MotoGP promotion in Saudi Arabia. Conversely, a global advertisement for a future Formula 1 / Moto Grand Prix street circuit project in Jeddah.
A new view of Jeddah: a Formula 1 and MotoGP racetrack in the city center – a project in the very near future Read about what Saudi Arabia has planned there in Formula 1 and MotoGP here. The project is more global than Indonesia’s partnership with Gresini Racing. A kind of competition has also emerged: if the Indonesian Racing Team within Gresini is a plan for the junior Grand Prix classes (Moto3 and Moto2), then the Saudi prince needs everything at once – a presence in all three classes, including MotoGP. Less makes no sense. Cooperation with VR46 Racing is ideal: a name, a successful history and … Ducati! Here’s the fun part. Carlo Merlini, manager of Faenza-based Gresini Racing, said late last week that he was less interested in the partnership with Aprilia Racing than in signing a contract with Ducati. But Valentino Rossi can seize the initiative and take away from Gresini the quota for 2 remaining free Desmosedici. Here the priority will be for the one who pays in advance.
Hi guys! Everything is fine with us. The chronology of events is as follows. On March 26, Rossi held talks with the prince about a new partnership. Nobody knows exactly what it was about. But following the meeting, a contract was signed, according to which the high-tech media holding of Their Highness – Tanal Entertainment Sport & Media suddenly became the official sponsor of Sky Racing Team VR46. It was a month ago. After the Doha Grand Prix, Rossi returned to Italy. But from the airport I went … no, not to Tavuglia, but to Bologna, or rather, to Borgo Panigale. And what is in Borgo Panigale? That’s right, the headquarters and the Ducati factory! Most likely, Rossi agreed on everything with the Saudis and knocked out the necessary budget from them to open a full-fledged garage in the Royal class. While this is an assumption. And everyone will be expecting a big announcement.
We are talking about a budget of 10 million euros for the season; but this is only MotoGP, and there is also the Sky Racing Team VR46 project in Moto2, plus, you can very quickly revive the team in Moto3. She had to be exchanged for Luca Marini’s place in Avintia, if you remember. But if everything is exactly as it seems, the puzzle is added: Dorna and Ducati give Sky Racing Team VR46 the Avintia quota for 2 Desmosedici prototypes, VR46 enters MotoGP already in 2022; at the same time, Rossi announces the return of the teams to Moto3 and Moto2 under a new commercial name associated with Saudi Arabia and new partners. Such a new partner for VR46, instead of Sky, will be Tanal Entertainment, which is directly linked to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the operator of the Saudi Vision 2020 construction in Jeddah.
Sky Racing Team VR46 is rapidly approaching MotoGP If Rossi himself cannot get to the start of MotoGP in 2022, he will be happy to be the most famous team manager in the history of motorsport, especially since there is good money behind it. In this case, it will not be difficult to pair Enea Bastianini with Luca Marini. First of all, because Ducati intends to continue working with the Moto2 champion. Italian insiders are confident there will be a big announcement at Mugello. And that’s bad news for Gresini Racing. Merlini does not manage the capital of the Gresini family, and besides, there are not so many of them. He needs to find a budget to negotiate with Ducati. But the family is not sure that they are ready to pick up the banner that fell after the death of Fausto. In this case, Gresini will have two options: to leave the Royal class and focus on the lower grades, as the Aspar Racing team did before; or agree to Aprilia Racing’s proposal to continue the partnership by becoming a Noale satellite in 2022. This scenario is a complete reversal of the hypotheses voiced last week regarding the VR46’s chances of becoming an Aprilia satellite. But that was only a hypothesis, especially since it was not known about Rossi’s visit to Ducati.