Valentino Rossi is setting the highest objectives for his VR46 Racing team ahead of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship, setting riders Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio a target of the title in all three tables’.
One of the most successful riders to have ever competed at motorcycle grand prix racing level, Rossi handed the baton over to the team that he founded when he retired from two-wheel competition at the end of 2021 when VR46 Racing made its premier class debut from Moto2 in 2022.
Since then, VR46 Racing has established itself as a consistent front-runner, with Bezzecchi winning three grands prix and one sprint race in 2023 en route to third overall.
For 2024, Bezzecchi remains on board, the Italian having turned down the chance to upgrade to the current-spec Ducati GP24 by moving to Pramac Racing, while di Giannantonio switches over from Gresini Racing. The team also has a new title sponsor and look courtesy of Indonesian oil giant Pertamina.
In a break with tradition though, di Giannantonio is the first rider to compete under the VR46 Racing name having been hired from outside the VR46 Academy, the programme Rossi established to nurture Italian talent to take on the quantity and quality emerging from Spain.
