Published: 15 Jul 2024
VR46 Unhappy - Only One Ducati GP25 for 2025 "Is Not Enough"
Ducati will provide just three GP25s in 2025. The VR46 Racing Team is not happy receiving only one current-spec Ducati next season.
For 2025, Ducati plans to bring just one current-spec Desmosedici to MotoGP outside of the factory team. Gresini Racing will run GP24s while VR46 Racing is poised to get one GP25 for Fabio Di Giannantonio and one GP24 for whoever replaces Marco Bezzecchi.
However, despite getting one more current-spec bike than in 2024, the VR46 Racing Team surrounding Team Director Uccio Salucci is unhappy.
Following Pramac’s Ducati withdrawal, the Italians’ new N°1 satellite team had high hopes for two current-spec Desmosedicis with full factory support.
The contrast with other manufacturers is striking: Both, KTM and Yamaha, have announced they will be fielding four factory bikes with Aprilia and Honda likely following the trend.
“We have a great team and great guys. We will become a factory team because we don’t build bikes, but when the riders come they find a fantastic situation,” Uccio Salucci told motorsport.com.
Even Gigi [Dall’Igna] compliments our management. They even chose us as the reference team from 2025 because Pramac left. But they had already chosen us as the reference team for 2027, independently of Pramac.”
He continues: “With the GP25, I don’t agree with Dall’Igna because we will only have one current bike, whereas we would like to have two, as we have always done.”
“We will try to manage it as well as possible, even if the other manufacturers have lined up with four bikes and we have three. It will be even more unusual because there will be two red ones and ours.”
However, with the GP24 dominating in 2024, the then-old-spec Desmosedici will likely still be enough to fight for race wins in 2025. As a big regulation change is coming up in 2027, Ducati is keen to cut unnecessary expenses as costs rise in all departments.
