VR46 Ducati team to unveil 2026 colours in January
VR46 has become the latest team to confirm its launch date
Valentino Rossi’s VR46 MotoGP team will reveal its 2026 colours at an official launch in mid-January in what is now a packed week of unveilings.
Nine-time grand prix world champion and motorsport legend Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team has been in operation for over a decade now, with it first starting out in Moto3 before expanding into Moto2.
The smaller class operations were shuttered for the 2022 season, when VR46 entered MotoGP as a Ducati satellite.
In 2023, the team won three grands prix with Marco Bezzecchi, who also finished third in the standings that season on year-old machinery.
For 2024, the team took on new title sponsorship from Pertamina Enduro, which led to a radical change in colours from the old Mooney-liveried bikes of 2022 and 2023.
In a post on its Instagram channel, VR46 has revealed the date of its 2026 launch, which will be held on 14 January in Rome.
Intriguingly, the team has teased a potential livery change in its post, in which it wrote “the new black and light”.
There will be no change to the VR46 line-up in 2026, as it continues to field Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli.
As was the case in 2025, Di Giannantonio will continue to ride factory-spec machinery, while Morbidelli will have a year-old bike.
Di Giannantonio scored four podiums last season on the GP25 on his way to sixth in the standings.
Morbidelli managed two rostrums and was just 30 points adrift in seventh in the championship.
VR46 was the only Ducati team in 2025 not to achieve a victory, with its drought now dating back to the 2023 Indian Grand Prix.
The VR46 season launch comes a day after Pramac Yamaha hosts its event in Siena on 13 January, while the factory Ducati team will follow at Madonna di Campiglia on 19 January.
The only other team to have confirmed its launch date for 2026 is Gresini, who will pull the wraps off its new colours in Kuala Lumpur on 31 January.
MotoGP 2026: Every team’s launch date
There will be an official season launch hosted by MotoGP in Kuala Lumpur following the first pre-season test at Sepang, and will run for two days on 6-7 February.
MotoGP trialled the concept at the start of this year in Bangkok, Thailand.
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