Label: vr46

Mar262024 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

KTM and Yamaha in talks with the Pramac team

The Pramac team could end its cooperation with Ducati at the end of this season, after inquiries from Yamaha and KTM about possible cooperation. Although the team claims that it is almost "100% certain" that they will continue to work with Ducati, they also have to officially confirm this before the summer break. Speculation about the future of the partnership began after Ducati signed talented Moto2 racer Fermin Aldeguer to a two-year contract, but details of which Ducati team the newcomer will race for were not given. Although it is very likely that Pramac will continue to work with Ducati, and Aldeguer will get a place in their garage, they are waiting for official confirmation from Ducati, otherwise they will place the young racer in one of the other semi-factory teams. The colors of the Prama team

Mar142024 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Di Giannantonio after the fall in Qatar: I prefer not to say how much the repair cost

MotoGP News

Fabio di Giannantonio ended the sprint race in Qatar with a crash that badly damaged his Ducati, and the Italian admitted that Valentino Rossi's VR46 team had to dig deep into their pockets to repair the wrecked bike. Di Giannantonio won last year's Qatar GP, but this year he made the race weekend complicated already on Saturday, when he won the seventh starting position for both races. Things took a turn for the worse when, in the third lap of the sprint race, chasing down Marc Marquez, he fell badly and lay down practically in the middle of the track, where he was very lucky that all the racers managed to pass him. "I was lucky that everyone saw me," he said. "But the bike went straight into the guardrail. I'd rather not say how much it cost the team to fix." After all, they are mechanics

Dec272023 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Rossi first at Minardi, then Ferrari

formula 1, MotoGP News

Valentino Rossi has revealed more details about the testing of the F1 racecar, after which he was close to transferring from the world of motorcycling. During the golden era of Ferrari's dominance, the Italian repeatedly tested the race car with which Michael Schumacher won the F1 race, after proving to himself and the observers that his times were completely competitive, and he was very close to moving to the Formula One championship. Speaking on Gianluca Gazzoli's podcast, Rossi revealed that if he were to make the switch, he would first have to prove himself in arguably the worst car in the caravan, the Minardi team that finished last among constructors in the 2004 and 2005 seasons before the team was bought by the Austrian Red in 2006 Bull and renamed it Toro Rosso. At the beginning of its existence, the team from Faenza worked closely with Ferrari, which b

Dec122023 by Aleksander MiličNo Comments

Which engines will the VR46 use: Ducati, Yamaha…or MV Agusta?

MotoGP News

VR46 has been using Ducati motorcycles since entering MotoGP in 2022. The contract with the manufacturer runs until the end of the upcoming season and may not be renewed, with Yamaha believed to be the main alternative. There are currently eight Ducatis on the grid, something the manufacturer has admitted it doesn't intend to keep up for long. While the Desmosedici GP provides competitive bikes, supplying three teams is not necessarily financially advantageous for Ducati. Each manufacturer receives three million euros from Dorna for at least one satellite team. Yamaha is the only manufacturer that only has its own factory team and aims to have a satellite team again by 2025. Director Lin Jarvis acknowledged VR46 as a potential option. Although the YZR-M1 is currently one of the less competitive motorcycles, it is not the most attractive one possible

Nov272023 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Di Giannantonio new member of the VR46 team

MotoGP News

Team Mooney VR46 has confirmed that Luca Marini will be replaced by Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Italian, who lost his seat in the Gresini team to Marc Marquez, managed to secure his future in the most elite motorcycle class with good performances at the end of the season (the highlight was the victory in the race in Qatar). Next season he will share the garage with Marco Bezzecchi, while Luca Marini was also officially confirmed as a new member of the Repsol Honda team today. "I am very happy to become a member of such a good team as Mooney VR46. I can't wait to get on the motorcycle and start writing a new story in my career." "I have improved a lot in the last two seasons and I can take another step forward with this team. I would like to thank everyone who gave me this opportunity." Di Giannantonio j

Nov272023 by PRNo Comments

OFFICIAL: Luca Marini to Repsol Honda as replacement for Marc Marquez

MotoGP News

The Repsol Honda team has now also officially confirmed that Luca Marini is coming to their garage in the 2024 season, where he will take over the place vacated by Marc Marquez. Marini competed for his brother's VR46 team for three seasons, and the 26-year-old Italian wanted new challenges and the opportunity to race for the factory team. Marini has signed a two-season contract with an option to extend. The vacancy in the VR46 team will probably be filled by Fabio Di Giannantonio, who lost his job in the Gresini Racing team, where Marc Marquez is coming.

Nov262023 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Ducati racers deny helping Bagna

MotoGP News

Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi have denied suggestions that they deliberately failed to overtake Francesca Bagnaia in Saturday's MotoGP sprint race, as this would have deprived him of important points in the fight for the championship title. Bagnaia arrived in Valencia with a 21-point lead, which was reduced to fourteen points after fifth place in the sprint race. But the Italian was lucky at first glance, as it seemed that his compatriots on semi-factory Ducatis, despite being faster, did not want to get involved in the title fight, otherwise Bagnaia would have had two points less before Sunday's decisive race. But both Di Giannantoni and Bezzecchi denied helping their compatriot: "I'm here to win races and to achieve podium finishes," was clear Di Giannantonio, who drove most of the race right behind

Nov232023 by PRNo Comments

Valentino Rossi back to Yamaha

MotoGP News

According to some German media, Valentino Rossi is said to have reached an agreement that his VR46 team will race with Yamaha motorcycles from 2025 onwards, thus at least indirectly returning the once successful relationship to the track. Rossi's Mooney VR46 team has been competing with Ducati bikes since entering the MotoGP class in 2022, and from 2025 they are expected to use Yamaha engines. According to German Speedweek speculation, one of the team's riders would get a fully factory-backed motorcycle, and for the first time in two seasons without a semi-factory team, Yamaha will have four motorcycles in the MotoGP races. The VR46 team has linked up with Indonesian lubricant manufacturers, Pertamina Lubricants, who will be their main sponsor for at least the next three seasons from 2024.

Nov132023 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Luca Marini to Repsol Honda for two years, official confirmation this weekend

MotoGP News

The Italian Luca Marini is expected to officially confirm his transfer from the VR46 team to Repsol Honda this week, where he will race for at least the next two seasons. Marini will, it seems, follow the path of his half-brother Valentino Rossi, who also raced with Honda at the beginning of his career, and in the Japanese manufacturer's garage he will in all likelihood work with the same chief mechanic, Santi Hernandez, who has worked closely together in recent years with Marco Marquez. The most important part that should convince Marini to transfer is the duration of the contract, as Honda initially offered the Italian a contract for one season, and at a meeting between Marini's manager and Honda in the paddock in Malaysia, they apparently reached an agreement on a longer-term cooperation. For now, the deal has not been officially confirmed, although it was unofficially confirmed by Marc Ma

Nov22023 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Valentino Rossi testing rookies with an LMP2 car

24 Hours of Le Mans, Other sports, World Endurance Championship

Valentino Rossi will take part in the official rookie testing of the World Endurance Championship in Barhain this weekend with the Belgian team WRT, where he will drive a prototype race car in the LMP2 class for the first time. "I'm happy for the opportunity to get behind the wheel of an LMP2 car for the first time," said the Italian. "This is a great opportunity given to me by the WRT team as we also plan to test a BMW hypercar in the future. Before this test it is very good to get some experience with the LMP2 prototype car as it has a similar level of vacuum and I am interested in what I capable behind his wheel. When I'm in Bahrain, I'll also be happy to watch the last race of the season, because I hope to race in the WEC championship in the future. That way I'll feel the atmosphere and the course of the event more easily." He will be with the team at rookie testing