Valentino Rossi’s team changes its strategy for the 23 MotoGP season. Alessio Salucci, sports director of the VR46 team, explains the reason for the choice.
Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team closed a good first season in MotoGP. The team directed by Alessio Salucci he collected a 2nd place and a pole position with Marco Bezzecchi, conquering the title of “best rookie of the year”, Luca Marini gave excellent ideas to be able to aim for the podium even if he didn’t hit the top-3. For 2023, strategy will change to aim for the first victory.
In the first year in Top Class Luca Marini he had a factory Ducati GP22, while the ‘Bez’ had a GP21 with specifications from the year before. The garage found itself grappling with some difficulties especially in the first part of the season, with a Desmosedici still difficult to understand and the two crews forced to work with different data. Small details, but they are the ones that make the difference today in a limitless category like the MotoGP. In 2023, both will have the same bike specification.
The new strategy of the Valentino Rossi team
A choice mainly dictated by technical circumstances, with the two crew chiefs, David Munoz and Matteo Flamigni, who will finally be able to share the telemetry ranges of their respective pilots 100%. “At the beginning of the 2022 season we had the factory bike, but we didn’t understand each other much,” explains Alessio Salucci in an interview with Speedweek.com. “So we preferred to continue our work: Luca is staying on the GP22, which is a fantastic bike. ‘Bez’ moves from GP21 to GP22“.
This should facilitate the task of the two souls of the box VR46. “Our two crews had trouble working together in 2022“. But the failure to adopt an official Ducati also has economic reasons, all the teams must aim to contain costs and certain resources could be diverted elsewhere. “It is no secret that the financial aspect is also an important factor today“.
But will it have repercussions on the results on the track? Alessio Salucci hopes not, aware that the next evolution of the Desmosedici won’t be consistent, at least he hopes. “I hope these are small improvements, even if the GP23 will obviously be the GP23“. But the team’s goal of Valentino Rossi it does not change. The expectations of the second season in MotoGP will be high and ambitious, then the numbers will give the final response. “We want to try to win a race. But let’s not expect too much because, like any satellite team, we are at the service of the factory team. The aim is to train the riders so that they can switch to the factory team. And in 2023 we certainly expect a little more from everyone“.
