VR46 has explained how it is already seeing the impact of its new deal with Ducati in MotoGP.
The team owned by motorcycle racing legend Valentino Rossi is getting factory support from the Borgo Panigale team this year, taking over the status enjoyed by Pramac until it jumped ship to Yamaha.
It was already public knowledge that Fabio di Giannantonio would be getting a factory-spec GP25 this year, and that the Italian was now directly on Ducati’s payroll.
But the full extent of the increased ties between VR46 and Ducati is now clear.
"The technical part has changed a lot, because all the Ducati engineers have arrived. The ones I dreamed of until yesterday,” said team director Uccio Salucci.
“Fortunately, with Valentino in Yamaha, we have always experienced factory situations and now I relive that situation here, with a lot of desire and competence on the part of Ducati.
“There are many more engineers, many more spare parts and for this I have to say thanks to Gigi [Dall'Igna].
“Everything changes a bit, even the approach of our mechanics and our technical chiefs: you have more motivation, you have more desire, you have more data to look at. Everything is much more exciting.”
VR46 ran year-old bikes on a satellite basis in 2024, which meant that the outfit received only basic technical support from Ducati.
Even in 2025, only Fabio di Giannantonio will get the latest example of the Desmosedici, with Franco Morbidelli continuing with the GP24 that he raced at Pramac last year.
However, VR46’s new relationship with Ducati means that even Morbidelli will benefit from having additional Ducati engineers on his side of the garage.
“If you have a bike from the previous year, Ducati [usually] gives you two engineers to manage it together with those from your team,” Salucci said.
“But this year we have a factory bike, which is going to the track for the first time, so we need more Ducati engineers. It is a service that Ducati guarantees when you sign the contract as a factory-supported structure.
“In practice, we have the same engineers who worked with Pramac last year, who will also follow Morbidelli's side of the garage, even if he has the GP24."
This isn’t the first time VR46 is getting a full-factory bike from Ducati. Most recently, Rossi’s half-brother Luca Marini raced the then-new GP22 in his second season with VR46 in 2022.
However, back then, Ducati wasn’t quite the dominant force in MotoGP as it is now, and initial feedback on the new bike forced the factory team to revert to some of the parts it used the previous year. VR46, meanwhile, had to continue with the all-new bike.
"It was a bit of a strange year, because after the Malaysian tests the factory bike became a bit of a hybrid between the GP21 and GP22, but we had the GP22, so we didn't have the same technical package,” Salucci explained.
“Now Ducati has a bit clearer ideas, so we will have the same bike. In 2022, however, we did not have the same number of engineers as we have now."
Although di Giannantonio impressed Ducati so much in his breakthrough season that he earned himself a factory contract, 2024 was still an underwhelming season for VR46.
It was comfortably outshone by Gresini, which also had the same GP23 bikes at its disposal, scoring just 318 points compared to 565 for its fellow Italian squad.
While a lot of that was down to the speed of six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, even younger brother Alex managed to outscore both di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi.
However, in 2025, Rossi expects VR46 to score podiums - and possibly victories - in the wake of the additional support from Ducati.
"Expectations for 2025 are very high, because we are Ducati's second team and in recent years they have always been very competitive and very strong,” the seven-time MotoGP champion said.
“We hope to fight for several podiums, win races if possible and finish in the top positions of the championship, I would like to say among the top five.”
It was in 2023 when VR46 last won a race, with Bezzecchi securing the top spot in Argentina, France and India on the GP22.
Last year, the GP24 was built around the new Michelin rear tyre, widening the gap between the two available Desmosedici.
But Salucci expects the GP24 and GP25 to be more similar in performance, something that could play in the hands of the team’s new signing Morbidelli.
“I think the GP23 could have been a very competitive bike too if the tyres hadn't changed,” he said.
“All the manufacturers had asked Michelin for more grip on the rear and that tyre created problems for the GP23, which was a bike that already had a lot of its own, and had to be unloaded.
“The arrival of these tyres has put it in even more crisis, or at least it has put our team in crisis, because we have spent the whole season not making settings to be fast, but to turn the bike in the middle of the corner.
“There are those who have succeeded better, like [Marc] Marquez, but above all, he has made the difference. And there are those who did worse like us.
“However, I think that with the GP24 it will be a bit like it was with the GP22, it will be fast. Or at least I hope, because on paper it is so.”
