VR46 Mooney deal includes Valentino Rossi's car races

Valentino Rossi has revealed that Italian payments company Mooney will not only be title sponsor for the VR46 MotoGP and Moto2 teams, but also back his Riders Academy and four-wheel racing activities.

Rossi, who brought an end to his legendary MotoGP career at Valencia in November, is switching to sportscar racing and recently tested an Audi for the WRT squad.

However, Rossi's choice of championship remains unclear and the only event so far confirmed is this weekend's entry, alongside brother Luca Marini and friend Alessio Salucci, in a Ferrari 488 GT3 for the Gulf 12 Hours at Abu Dhabi.

Mooney meanwhile takes over as VR46 title sponsor from Sky Italia and fills the void left by the planned Aramco deal, which hasn't materialised. The new VR46 racing livery is yet to be unveiled.

“Mooney, in addition to being the title sponsor of our team in the MotoGP and Moto2 World Championship, will also join us [at] the VR46 Riders Academy and in my first four-wheel racing season," said Rossi.

An extension of the Riders Academy, the VR46 team first entered grand prix in the Moto3 class in 2014, winning races in its debut year with Romano Fenati.

The team expanded into Moto2 in 2017, winning its first world title the following season with future MotoGP star Francesco Bagnaia.

Dropping the Moto3 project, VR46 ran Luca Marini in MotoGP under the Avintia banner for 2021, ahead of a full VR46 premier-class entry for Marini and rookie Marco Bezzecchi on Ducati machinery this season.

Pablo Nieto will remain as team manager of the MotoGP squad, with Luca Brivio promoted to team manager in Moto2.

Rossi's former crew chief David Muñoz will work with Marini this season, with the Italian's long time data engineer Matteo Flamigni becoming crew chief for Bezzecchi.

Idalio Gavira also joins the VR46 project as rider coach and, interestingly, 'head of tyre strategy', after working for Rossi at Petronas last year.

In Moto2, Roberto Locatelli continues as rider coach, with Jairo Carriles crew chief for Celestino Vietti and Danilo Angeli crew chief for Niccolò Antonelli, stepping up from Moto3.

"We are really proud of the path that led us to our MotoGP debut," said VR46 team director Alessio Salucci.

"We have chosen the right people, animated by the same commitment and passion. Our riders have the potential to achieve something great and keep us entertained. We are confident that we will soon reach the level of the most competitive teams.

"A common goal also in Moto2 where we want to remain one of the reference teams in the category."