Bezzecchi, Marini re-sign with Mooney VR46 for 2024
Mooney VR46 Racing Team are one of the few two-rider teams in MotoGP who will take an unchanged rider lineup into the 2024 season, as both Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini have re-signed with the team.
Despite the slim possibility of a seat with Lenovo Ducati Team on the latest Desmosedici GP24 next year (and rumors of a Repsol Honda ride for Martini). Both riders have elected to remain with the Valentino Rossi-owned satellite team and their older Ducati machinery. Bezzecchi re-signed at the end of August and Marini a week later.
The Italian pair, who are graduates of the VR46 Riders Academy, first rode together for Mooney VR46 Racing Team in 2022. For Bezzecchi, it was his MotoGP debut, while Marini had joined the premier class a year earlier with Avintia Esponsorama Racing. Despite a 2022 season that yielded only one podium finish between the two (a second for Bezzecchi at the Dutch TT), this year has been much more fruitful.
As of the Australian GP, 24-year-old Bezzecchi had three race wins and eight podiums, while Marini, who turned 26 in August, achieved his first ever MotoGP podium finishes at this year’s Argentine, American and Indonesian rounds.
“I am really happy to confirm that in 2024 I will be on track with the Mooney VR46 Racing Team,” Bezzecchi said. “This Team has been crucial to my career until now. Continuing to grow in this working group, with the support of Ducati, is the most natural choice for me.
“Thanks to Vale, Uccio, Pablo, the VR46 Riders Academy and all those who made this possible."
Marini, Valentino Rossi’s half-brother, was equally positive about staying with the team for the coming season.
“Remaining in the Mooney VR46 Racing Team is for me a question of trust in a very close-knit working group, which has believed in me for many years,” the Italian explained. “As a team, we will do everything to achieve our goals the next season. Not only Vale, Uccio and Pablo whom I thank, but the whole technical team that supports me and Ducati. Being among the protagonists of the 2024 season, fighting for the Championship as a rider and as a team is certainly a real ambition.”