The premise is clear: Ducati goes with everything this 2023. It doesn’t matter if it’s the official team or the three other teams they have, the idea is to go all out and get to the top of the podium from Portimao (March 26). The Moonery VR46 Racing Team also wants it, which has been presented with Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini as its weapons for its second course as an independent team in the premier class of the MotoGP World Championship. In 2022 they already got on the podium (Bezzecchi, in Assen) and took pole position (the same, but in Thailand), the Rookie of the Year title and 231 total points in his debut season. For this reason, knowing the talent of its young pilots and the level of the prototypes they have, they want to aspire to the maximum from day one.
And it is that Valentino Rossi’s brother has already sent a notice in the Sepang tests: the Italian was the fastest on the track in the overall computation of the three days of testing. The team, owned by the nine-time world champion, will have two GP22s in 2023, that is, two exactly the same specifications of the prototype that became world champion with Pecco Bagnaia as the clear protagonist. A motorcycle that Marini already knows perfectly as it is the model with which he competed last year, however, A cost cut at the Italian team has led them to opt not to make a spec this year. As for the design, little has changed: the VR46 maintains the black base on its motorcycles, accompanied by the yellow that has characterized its owner’s entire career. But the important thing is speed. Something that, for now, they have managed to find.
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“I am very satisfied with the pre-season, the bike is really fast and competitive and I also like the new design, all black. I’d say we’re close to perfect. In Malaysia the race pace was good, the simulation lap was fantastic and we are satisfied. We can fight for the Top 5 every weekend, We just have to try to make the most of our potential in the first Grand Prix”, says Luca Marini, although with doubts about “what to expect” from the new sprint races on Saturdays. Bezzecchi, his teammate, He also boasts of being “happy with the tests” and feeling good with a new motorcycle with which “I immediately noticed the difference”. “The connection with the gas is the clearest, compared to the previous bike, and then also the aerodynamic package”, he adds, aiming to win his first MotoGP race.
for its owner, Valentino Rossi, 2023 has to be a step forward because, “after a fantastic season” for his debut, the Italian knows that more can be expected. “We were fast even though the team was new. The boys did a great job, fighting for the podium and the top positions on several occasions. This is still our goal for 2023″, admits the world champion, betting on “two very fast and more experienced drivers” who can “take another step forward to get his first victory and conquer as many podiums as possible”. It only remains to achieve perfection and Ducati is close to reaching the secret formula.