Fausto Gresini, eponymous chief of the Gresini Racing MotoGP team, is in hospital aft𒆙er contracting CꦛOVID-19, a statement from the Italian outfit has confirmed.

The team owner tested positive for the virus shortly before Chri💞stmas when he began showing symptoms before being hospi𝄹talised on 27 December at the Sant Maria della Scaletta in Imola.

A spokesperson from Gresini Racing says he has since been transported to the Maggiore Carlo Pizzardi hospital in Bologna, where he is being treated in a specialist ward. His condition 🎀for now remains unknown.

"Following the COVID-19 positivity discovered shortly before the Chris𒆙tmas break, Fausto Gresini - after an initial isolation period at home - was hospitalised on 27 December at the Santa Maria della Scaletta hospital in Imola.

"The Gresini Racing team pr🎃incipal was transported today to the Maggiore Carlo Alberto Pizzardi hospital in Bologna, in a more specialised ward for COVID-19 care.

"Fausto's conditions are const♕antly monitored. Further updates will follow.”

One of MotoGP’s stalwaꦇrt independent teams, Fausto💫 Gresini has helmed the team that bears his name ever since it stepped into the premier class in 1997 (500GP), where it established a long-term relationship with Honda before being chosen to collaborate with Aprilia on its factory MotoGP project from 2015.

Gresini Racing has since confirmed it will split from Aprilia in-house works’ effort to revert back to an independent model, potentially as the Italian manufacturer’s official satellite teamꩵ.

The deadly coronavirus has - since the first reporte𒅌d cases in late 2019 - gone on to claim 1.79M lives globally amid 82.1M confirmed cases.  Italy was one of the worst affected countries during the earlier stages of the virus' outbreak