Without the conditions allowing it and there are no last minute changes, Valentino Rossi plans to be in Portimao this Saturday to follow the Portuguese Grand Prix , which started in the rain this Friday and will conclude on Sunday with the races of the three categories .
The team owned by former Italian rider, Mooney VR46 , confirmed that Valentino is scheduled to arrive on Saturday and that no special event is planned, he will simply be supporting his riders.
The Italian structure has a Moto2 team in which Niccolò Antonelli and Celestino Vietti compete, the current leader of the championship and winner of two of the four races held so far.
In MotoGP, where VR46 makes its debut as an independent structure with Ducati machinery, the pair of riders is made up of Valentino’s brother, Luca Marini, and rookie Marco Bezzecchi.
Valentino’s friend and right-hand man during his 26 years in the World Championship, Uccio Salucchi , is the team manager, while former Spanish rider Pablo Nieto is the Team Manager of the structure based in Tavullia .
Rossi retired from MotoGP competition after the Valencia Grand Prix held in November last year and has not returned to the World Championship paddock since then. If there are no last-minute changes, the Italian will take advantage of the first race of the season on European soil to revisit what has been his home for more than a quarter of a century and where he won up to nine world championships.
Since then, the Italian athlete has continued to train with the Academy drivers on two wheels, as well as competing in the 2022 GT World Challenge Europe at the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT3.
