VR46: Bezzecchi Aprilia deal ‘extra motivation to continue’

With Luca Marini now at Repsol Honda and Marco Bezzecchi joining Aprilia next season, VR46 has again achieved its goal of placing young riders in factory MotoGP teams.

Indeed, by next season, all four VR46 Academy riders currently in MotoGP will have raced for official teams, with reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia at Ducati and Franco Morbidelli spending two years at Yamaha before switching to Pramac.

But with Marini and now Bezzecchi flying the nest, and no other young Academy talents ready to join MotoGP, where does that leave the VR46 team?

Director Alessio Salucci described Bezzecchi’s Aprilia deal, negotiated in-house by the VR46 Academy, as:

“A bittersweet moment... On the one hand, we can only be happy to have played an important role in the jump of a young rider from the VR46 Riders Academy to an official structure.

“On the other, after five seasons, our relationship with Marco is truly special, familiar, we have shared many beautiful moments together and many of the successes in our history are linked to his name.”

Rather than a case of ‘mission accomplished’, Salucci made clear that the team’s goals are onwards and upwards for the post-Bezzecchi era.

“As a team, this [Bezzecchi Aprilia deal] is a [proud moment] and extra motivation for us to continue in this direction, to create a model to repeat, to always aim high and to consolidate ourselves as a reference structure in the championship,” he said.

“About Marco, beyond the great results, we will remember the many moments shared on and off the track.

“As Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team we can do nothing more than hope for him a future full of successes and satisfactions. Until Valencia, we will continue to work without leaving anything to chance for reaching ambitious goals together.”

Fellow Italian Fabio di Giannantonio, who is not a member of the VR46 Academy, is currently Bezzecchi’s team-mate - and ahead of him in the world championship standings.

VR46 is tipped to capitalising on Pramac’s predicted switch to Yamaha by forging closer ties with Ducati next year.

And if Pramac joins Yamaha, VR46 might still have one Academy rider for 2025 in the form of Morbidelli.