Last April, the landing of the VR46 team in MotoGP from 2022 was made public. The Tanal Entertainment holding company , owned by the Saudi prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Saud , sent a statement to the media announcing the entry of the energy giant Aramco – belonging to the monarch’s conglomerate of companies – as the main sponsor of the formation of Valentino Rossi .
At the same time, the energy company refused the agreement: “Aramco confirms that it has not signed any agreement with the VR46 team or with any other MotoGP subsidiary. This note is in reference to the Tanal Entertainment press release made public on Wednesday April 28, without Aramco’s knowledge. Aramco has never had any commercial agreement with Tanal Entertainment, the MotoGP championship or any of the teams involved in it.”
Without any statement from the company that validated the sponsorship, VR46 maintained that the agreement was still valid , simply referring to the testimony of Rossi, who claimed to have the approval of the prince . In fact, Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Saud himself made reference to him when it was announced in June that Ducati would supply the bikes and even invited the one from Tavullia to compete with them.
“It would be fantastic for me if Valentino Rossi could compete in the coming years as a driver for our Aramco Racing Team VR46 alongside his brother Luca Marini, who is already racing this year under the sponsorship of our brands,” Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al said in a note. Saud.
As the months went by, doubts continued to grow. Aramco CEO, Amin Hassan Nasser , was one of Pramac’s guests at the Dutch Grand Prix, where he made it clear that the company he runs had neither signed with VR46 nor had any intention of doing so.
For his part, Rossi became defensive every time the agreement between Aramco and VR46 was questioned: “We go in good faith. I talk to the prince often and everything is fine.”
However, Pablo Nieto , who will act as team manager, revealed that at the beginning of August in Austria the name of the pilot who would accompany Luca Marini in 2022 would be known. In view of the mess surrounding the agreement with Aramco, before the announcement of his Withdrawal was even speculated on the possibility that Rossi would end up in the VR46 to try to attract the attention of sponsors who would make the project viable by taking advantage of his pull.
Finally, in Austria the lineup of the VR46 for 2022 was not confirmed and the announcement was deferred to Misano . Two months after Spielberg’s appointment there is still no news.
Rossi himself relaxed his speech two weeks ago in Aragon and left open the possibility of the VR46 being on the grid without Aramco.
“I don’t know precisely what the situation is with the prince. There are some critical problems, but fortunately they are not really my problem. I just know what the MotoGP team will do, for which we are already working very hard. I don’t know what the latest are. updates, but in any case we will be on the MotoGP grid next year,” guaranteed Il Dottore .
In the midst of all this gibberish, MotoGP published last Thursday the list of teams in the lower classes. Among those of Moto2 the VR46 appeared including the presence of Aramco. However, at this point it is becoming increasingly clear that the deal with the Saudis never existed. Those responsible for the training assume that they are without a sponsor a few months after their debut in the premier class and are looking for the money to raise the minimum budget.
(Click on the image or on this link to see the photos of the 2021 season of the VR46 in MotoGP)
