It is Valentino Rossi, boss of the VR46, more than the Doctor driver, who was the subject of all the attention during the press conference before the Spanish Grand Prix which opens this Friday in Jerez. The event, in fact, for the men of Tavullia, is this important partnership with leading decision-makers from Saudi Arabia. A rapprochement which is challenging but whose result remains the implementation of an ambitious MotoGP project for the period 2022-2026. Vale assures that the category will also benefit while it could even end up with its own theme park… Like Ferrari in Abu Dhabi.
The arrival of Saudi money in the adventure VR46 en MotoGP will it trickle down to the entire category allocated to the Grand Prix? Will we have tomorrow a synergy that we know in the world of football? We are certainly not there yet, but when we discover the unlimited and claimed ambitions of the investors mentioned, we feel dizzy. This evocation of the idea of a theme park dedicated to the overall work of the nine-time winner is guaranteed to make you dizzy. Everything is apparently possible. The current pilot Petronas Yamaha does not hide it, specifying in his press conference: “ there was also talk of a VR46 theme park, that would be nice to have. In Abu Dhabi, there is already one from Ferrari ". Tavullia would thus find itself at the level of Maranello.
But let's go back to Aramco. Vale specifies: “ the MotoGP project is a good project, we are happy, without this partnership with Aramco it would have been very difficult to achieve it. It is a very important sponsor for MotoGP itself, it is already present in Formula 1. We are very satisfied ". And he insists: “ I am proud of this project, we started 10 years ago helping my brother Luca Marini, Migno and Morbidelli and now we come to MotoGP. It's been a good journey, there are a lot of people involved in the project, and making a team in MotoGP is full circle. At VR46, many are working on this project. We have been working for 10 years to help pilots and we also help the Italian Federation ».
Rossi: “I don’t completely rule out the possibility of racing in my team”
A work for others, but also a possible salvation for him: “ the Team is not linked to my future, I am a Petronas pilot, we will decide this year whether to continue or not, as I said before, a lot will depend on the results. I don't completely rule out the possibility of racing in my team, but it will be very difficult, even if in this world everything changes quickly. As for motorcycles, everything is still open, we have several options including Yamaha , Aprilia, Ducati, Suzuki, nothing is excluded ».
Petronas therefore cannot exclude anything either. Malaysians will have to stay on alert. Including if they want to keep Franco Morbidelli.
