VR46 completes 2024 MotoGP line-up

Ahead of this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix – both Marini and the team’s home race – it was confirmed he would stay with his half brother Valentino Rossi’s team for another year.

"Remaining in the Mooney VR46 Racing Team also in 2024 is for me a question of trust in a very close-knit working group, which has believed in me for many years," Marini said.

"As a team, we will do everything to achieve our goals the next season.

"Not only Vale, Uccio [Salucci] and Pablo [Nieto] 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."

Marini is currently seventh in the standings with 125 points, having scored his maiden podium at the Americas GP in Austin.

Luca Marini, VR46 Racing Team

Photo by: Media VR46

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He made his MotoGP debut in 2021 with the Avintia team, but was backed by the VR46 organisation and sported their livery.

He then joined Rossi’s VR46 team when it took over Avintia’s grid spots for 2022, alongside former Moto2 team-mate Bezzecchi.

Marini’s resigning with VR46 completes another part of the MotoGP silly season puzzle, with the team’s line-up now complete.

Bezzecchi’s decision to remain with the team was announced ahead of last weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix, and had been one of the key figures in the 2024 rider market discussions, with the Italian linked to Pramac for some time.

Ducati made it clear that his only chance to ride a factory-spec bike next season would be to join Pramac, taking the place of Johann Zarco, who has signed a two-year deal with LCR Honda.

But Bezzecchi’s preferred option was to remain with VR46, even if that meant not having a 2024-spec bike at his disposal, while Rossi himself has been pushing for him to stay put.

With Bezzecchi staying put, fellow Academy rider Franco Morbidelli is likely to move to Pramac to ride a factory-spec Ducati identical to that ridden by world champion Francesco Bagnaia in 2024.

He is set to ride alongside Jorge Martin, as Johann Zarco moves to LCR to replace Yamaha-bound Alex Rins, who in turn replaces Morbidelli.