Marco Bezzecchi
Valentino Rossi’s commitment to the VR46 MotoGP project has occasionally been questioned. Rossi’s focus has been split between his eponymous team and his own four-wheel racing programme.
Rossi, who raced in the World Endurance Championship last year, missed the team’s 2025 launch and the majority of the races.
Since entering the premier class in 2022, VR46 have won three Grands Prix and scored 18 podiums. But even with a Ducati bike that was dominant for most of the year, they didn’t take any victories last season.
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Liberty Media reportedly want Rossi to be more involved because his presence would help them from a marketing perspective. But the legendary rider, who retired at the end of 2021, could withdraw from the sport altogether.
VR46 are the most ‘vulnerable’ team to a sale
One journalist has suggested that Rossi may feel his job is ‘done’ with the VR46 Academy. He brought two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia into MotoGP, while Marco Bezzecchi has also flourished at Aprilia.
Rossi is still developing young talents, but The Race’s Simon Patterson thinks he’s ‘open’ to selling his team, more so than any other MotoGP owner. The grid slots could change hands for 2027.
Patterson believes such a transaction would be fatal for Franco Morbidelli’s MotoGP career. There’s a school of thought that Morbidelli’s close relationship with Rossi is keeping him on the grid.
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“I think it’s worth saying that VR46 is, for me, the most vulnerable team on the grid to not exist in ’27, under its current format,” said Patterson.
“Should there be new ownership – they are the team that is most open to that right now – then there’s no world in which Franco Morbidelli remains, probably on the MotoGP grid as a whole.”
Even if Rossi doesn’t sell, there could be major changes before next year. VR46 are in talks with Aprilia as they near the end of their Ducati satellite contract.
VR46 stance gives Max Verstappen a perfect opportunity to buy a MotoGP team
Interest from prospective investors has sharply increased since Liberty acquired MotoGP. Based on the US conglomerate’s success in F1, the value of the teams could soar in years to come.
Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has already bought Tech3, though he has maintained their brand identity.
It emerged last year that star driver Max Verstappen is interested in buying a MotoGP team too, along with his F1 rival Lewis Hamilton.
The drivers have spoken to teams like Gresini, Trackhouse and LCR, but it sounds as if VR46 may be more fertile ground.
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