The team manager of Sky Racing Team VR46 spoke about the functioning of this project and the important presence of Valentino Rossi, its creator.
Paul Grandson has been at the head of the Sky VR46 team since 2015, when he became team manager. Since then, the structure has grown, several riders have passed through the Moto3 and Moto2 teams and the project created by Valentino Rossi and those close to him is more conclusive than ever with victories, podiums, a world title and a rider who has now arrived in MotoGP. The Spaniard, son of multiple world champion Ángel Nieto, spoke in an interview with the Spanish site Sports world about his arrival in the team, his role today and Rossi's involvement.
Contacted by the hard core of VR46 five years ago to take on a major role in the team, Nieto could have hesitated in the face of the pressure that such a status confers, yet he did not see things that way: “I had just won the Moto3 World Championship with Maverick [Viñales] so no, it didn't make me dizzy at all. When I arrived in 2015, there were only two bikes in Moto3. Then we put in a third and then we moved to Moto2. We expanded very quickly. »
“It’s true that the Academy is run by several of us but my work is 100% in the team”He says. “That’s where I’m most involved, where I work the most hours. The team is my baby. When we win in Moto2 and we do a double, it fills my heart with joy. »
The only Spaniard in the middle of a clan of Italians, Nieto thrives perfectly in this transalpine environment but recognizes that openness to other nationalities, notably his own, is not excluded: “The project is Italian, the Academy is only for Italian pilots, 100%. But what we want is to win, so we have to try to have the best with us. We try to ensure that they are Italian but if we see that they do not meet the conditions necessary for the team, we will take Spaniards, because in Spain there are very good people. »
Nevertheless, the heart of the project remains Italian, as desired by Valentino Rossi, in order to relaunch the transalpine drivers on the front of the stage. Today, the team supervises Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi in Moto2 and Celestino Vietti and Andrea Migno in Moto3. Between his Academy and his team, the nine-time World Champion is very involved, in addition to his own career in MotoGP which still continues.
“He is 100% involved, in the end it’s his team, his image too”, explains Nieto. “Every time we have to make an important decision like signing a certain driver or taking another direction, we take it together with Uccio, Albi, Carlo, Gianlucca, Valentino and me. Obviously, I try to filter for Vale. The small problems that there are in the team must not reach him because he continues to race and he must remain focused. »
"He always asks 'How was the day?' How did the tests go? What happened to so-and-so that he wasn't fast? Tell Celestino that I think he opens up a lot at turn 4. What pace Luca has, I think we can win here..." Almost every evening, at dinner time, we talk for at least an hour about everything that in Vale's motorhome. »
While rumors of an imminent arrival of the Sky Racing Team V46 in MotoGP are spreading, Nieto is keen to contain them by affirming that it is not for now: “MotoGP is MotoGP, it’s the elite of the elite but the project we have in Moto2 and Moto3 is spectacular. We push young promises and win with them. One day arriving in MotoGP would be good but the most important thing is that the sporting project is motivating. »
