Official: VR46 signs with Ducati, 'fantastic' if Rossi rides alongside Marini

As rumoured, Valentino Rossi's VR46 team has completed a deal with Ducati for its inaugural 2022 MotoGP campaign.

While VR46 is yet to announce any of its MotoGP riders, Luca Marini is guarenteed to stay. The second seat is tipped to go to VR46 Moto2 rider Marco Bezzecci - unless of course Rossi decides to headline his own team.

And that's exactly what VR46 title sponsor Aramco hopes will happen.

"It would be fantastic for me if Valentino Rossi could compete in the next few years as a rider in our Aramco Racing Team VR46 together with his brother Luca Marini who already this year competes with the sponsorship of our brands KSA New Cities, MAIC Technologies, TANAL Entertainment Sport&Media," said HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Rossi, a best of just tenth so far this season, is due to decide on his MotoGP future during the summer break.

The initial VR46 Ducati deal is for three years, damping down rumours that Ducati would be a stop-gap to a future VR46-Suzuki partnership. Instead, Gresini - which only has an initial two-year Ducati deal - looks a more likely target for Suzuki.

“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with VR46 for the next three years," said Ducati Corse general manager Luigi Dall’Igna. "The VR46 Riders Academy has always worked seriously and with great professionalism, giving many riders the opportunity to gain experience in Moto2 and Moto3, and today it can be proud to have brought three very talented young riders to MotoGP.

"VR46 has also shown that it knows how to manage its Team in Moto3 and Moto2 with competence and success and therefore we will strive to provide maximum technical support to their new Team in MotoGP, convinced that in VR46 we have found an ambitious and motivated partner like us, with the common goal of obtaining great results together."

With VR46 having dipped its toe into MotoGP team management by running Rossi's younger brother Marini within the Avintia Ducati structure this season, Aramco revealed in April that it had signed as title sponsor of a new VR46 MotoGP team from 2022-2026.

Attention then turned to choice of machinery, with Rossi initially suggesting talks were underway with 'Aprilia, Yamaha, Ducati… Suzuki also'.

That quartet was later reduced to a '50-50' choice between Yamaha and Ducati, with Rossi at one stage appearing on the verge of whipping the satellite M1 supply from under the nose of the Petronas team he currently races for.

But the Yamaha talks subsequently died down, leaving Ducati to complete a deal which will see the Italian Factory field eight bikes on the MotoGP grid for the first time since 2016.

The VR46 bike spec has not been revealed, which is not a surprise since it will be heavily influenced by the rider line-up. Rossi would be sure to want the latest GP22s if he continues, while a rookie such as Bezzecchi would likely get GP21s.

The Factory Ducati team and Pramac will again have the latest spec Desmosedicis in 2022, with Gresini set to get this year's GP21s.