Mooney VR46, Valentino Rossi’s team ready for its debut

As is well known, the 2022/2023 season will be the first of the MotoGP championship without Valentino Rossi. If the absence of the Doctor from the starting grid will be missed by many fans and enthusiasts, his fighting spirit will continue to be present throughout the team. Mooney VR46, of which Valentino is the owner. The team was the last to lift the veils on the two bikes that will participate in the MotoGP world championship, less than two weeks after the green light went on.

It is two Ducati Desmosedici that show off a fluorescent yellow livery with black parts, colors that have always characterized the VR46 brand. To these colors are added the ocher yellow and dark gray of the main sponsor Mooneythe Italian fintech that has decided to link its name to MotoGP to the team that has Pablo Nieto as Team Principal.

The look is very different from the Sky Racing Team VR46 livery of the 2021 season. The two bikes were entrusted to Rossi’s half-brother, Luca Marini who already boasts experience in MotoGP, and to the VR46 Academy rider the rookie in the premier category Marco Bezzecchi who arrives in MotoGP after having performed well in Moto2 last season.

Specifically, the Borgo Panigale house has made a brand new one available to the new team Desmosedici GP22 for Marini, who will thus have very high level material in his second year in MotoGP; while Bezzecchi will debut in the category on one Desmosedici GP21.

It’s been a long way since Moto3, but now we are ready to make our MotoGP debut with a VR46 team and four young riders who I know will give their 100% “, Valentino Rossi declared. “It is the closing of a circle for me and also for all the people who have worked so passionately on this project over the years. At the same time, it is a great debut and the beginning of a new chapter of this beautiful story in MotoGP ”.

A rookie and Vale’s brother for the newborn Mooney VR46

The two riders were presented to the press after having already ridden the two bikes in tests in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“The sensations are more than positive, the goal is to be constantly in the leading group, to fight for the top 5 and always be among the top 10”, hopes the 24-year-old driver, who after being Moto2 World Vice-Champion in 2010 finished 19th in his MotoGP debut. “I’d like to get on the podium, I know it’s a very ambitious goal but I have faith in my team. The atmosphere is great, we have fun and I enjoy it. I also really like the colors of the bike, they have always been those of the VR46 “, conclude.

Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi

For Bezzecchi the goal is very clear: “Qatar is already close and now we have to learn to manage the positive pressure it will bring. It’s been a long wait and now there’s a lot of adrenaline, ”he admits Marco Bezzecchi, who will be one of the five rookies on the grid for the 2022 MotoGP World Championship. “I’m happy with how the tests went. Obviously I still have a lot to do, so far we have only done a race simulation and the first GP will be challenging. I like the team, they are very close and the atmosphere is good ”, continues the 23-year-old driver, who arrived last year third in Moto2 (equaling the position reached in Moto3 2018) ed it’s clear what he’s looking for on his elite debut: “The title of Rookie of the Year is a great goal and I would like nothing more than to fight to reach it until the end. It will be special to get out on the track with this bike: it has the colors of Valentino and the VR46 family and the Italian character of Mooney and Ducati ”, he concludes.