Valentino Rossi: comes the turning point in VR46, three centaurs toward farewell

Valentino Rossi’s VR46 changes, Uccio’s announcement, “They will continue to train with us but we will no longer take care of them 100 percent, but 60 percent.”

Pecco Bagnaia’s triumph in MotoGp starts the reorganization of the VR46 Academy, which will focus more on experienced and running riders in MotoGp (Bagnaia, Morbidelli, Marini, Bezzecchi) and give less space to new recruits.

In 2023 in Moto2, the VR46 Racing Team will become Fantic Motor, and Celestino Vietti will have another chance to win the Moto2 title after a below-expectation 2022. With him there will not be an Italian, but the Spaniard Borja Gomez.

The other centaurs Niccolò Antonelli, Stefano Manzi and Alberto Surra will no longer be part of the Riders Academy, although Alessio “Uccio” Salucci explained to Speedweek that it will be a soft farewell: “They will remain friends of the Academy. We are working on a package for them, because we don’t like to just say ‘Hello.’ We like them, we are a group with the same passion. They will probably continue to train with us, however, we will no longer take care of them 100 percent, but 60 percent.”

For now, therefore, space only for the elite riders and not for newcomers, “It’s not easy. Because the age is different and in general everything is a bit different. At the moment it would not be wise to hire young riders who might unbalance the group a bit. But we definitely want to continue the project and we are seeing how to organize and structure it.”