Will Valentino Rossi’s Mooney VR46 team move to Yamaha? “But we’re interested in competitive bikes…”

Yamaha, whose 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fabio Quartararo won the MotoGP championship in 2021, will field only tw꧅o bikes on the 2023 grid after losing their RNF satellite team to Aprilia.
They hope a call to Rossi, whose legendary status i🐻s synonymous with his heyday at Yamaha, could result in his VR46 squad switching allegiance from their current Ducati𝔍 home.
“For us it is a great honour that Yamaha is pushing to have us, and we are very pleased,” said 𒈔team manager Uccio Salucci.
“But we have a contract with Ducati until the end of next year and w💙e will respect it.
“In🐼 the♏ future, who knows? But we are interested in having competitive bikes.
“If Yamaha, after🐈 2024, have strong bikes then we are open to anything.”
The Mooney VR46 team will again field exciting young duo 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Marco Bezzecchi and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Luca Marini this season.
“From the middle of the championship we were strong with both riders,”🍌 Salucci reflected on last year.
“In the beginning, Luca suffered more but if there is a fault, it was ours. We did not yet have the situation in hand and managin▨g a factory bike was difficult.
“Then the team wor𓆏ked well - Bezzecchi got on the podium and won Rookie of the Year, Luca had two fourth-pl🌳ace finishes.
“We fought for the positions that matter and, as I always tell my boys, that’s the the mosꦍt important thing. Yo🅷u have to be protagonists.”

This season, Bezzecchi and Marini will profit from using a 2022-spec Desmosedici - the bike that Francesco💜 Bagnaia became champion with.
“We൲ made this choice because it is right to stay with a bike that we knew, not to risk like we did last year,”🦂 Salucci said.
“At the beginning of th🉐e season I hope it will give us some advantages.
“Then from mid-season, mayb♒e even earlier, the official teams will grow and it ꦕwill not be easy for us.”
So, must there be hope that Bezzecchi or Marini 🅷could trouble the top names♎ at the front of the grid?
“It is normal and right that we have more expectations,” Salucci said. “We have more expectations internally ꧋too.
“Our riders are fast, they have m📖ore experience and I expect more, even if it is never easy.”
He said their hop♌e is: “To try and fight in every race for a top-five position, to get on the podium𝓀 and even to win some races.”
Salucci🌺 said about the prospect of Sprint races: “Initially I was worried. I look at it from a practical side and we had to regroup.
“Carlo Casabianca, a trainer from the academy, has studied a different preparation for each riders so they are more explosive and we have mo🅘re fuel.
“Mentally, it won’t be easy to manage two races at the weekend. But as a show, it will ✱be good for the fans.”

James was a spo꧒rts jou♉rnalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.