FIRST LOOK: VR46 unveils "aggressive" 2026 'Black and Light' MotoGP livery
VR46 faces its fifth MotoGP season with these new colours for Fabio di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli - Valentino Rossi jokes, "the mechanics will be happy!"
This is the latest Pertamina Enduro VR46 team livery, to be raced by Fabio di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli during the 2026 MotoGP season.
The signature fluorescent yellow of team owner Valentino Rossi remains, but - as the name implies - the revised ‘Black and Light’ colours unveiled in Rome today drop the previous white background.
“This is the third season that we use a lot of yellow, our colour," said Rossi. "In the last two years, we put the yellow with white. But for this year, we wanted something different, a bit more aggressive.
"The mechanics will be the happiest guys, because with the white, they spent a lot of time cleaning! White is more elegant, but black is more racing, so we hope they will be faster than last year."
VR46’s fifth season in the premier class is also its second with factory-backed Ducati status, a status inherited after Pramac’s switch to Yamaha.
However, despite running the latest Desmosedici machinery for di Giannantonio, the VR46 pair were the only Ducati riders not to win a race last season.
As such, the team’s only MotoGP wins still date back to Marco Bezzecchi in 2023.
di Giannantonio nonetheless got the better of Morbidelli to secure a career-best sixth in the world championship (as the fourth best Ducati rider) with four Sunday podiums and five Sprint rostrums.
Former Petronas Yamaha title runner-up Morbidelli took four rostrums during his debut season at VR46, which was disrupted by injuries at Sachsenring and Valencia.
di Giannantonio will again race factory-spec Ducati machinery in 2026, while Morbidelli continues on a year-old satellite bike.
VR46 claimed to have turned down the option of a second official machine, which was subsequently awarded to Gresini’s title runner-up Alex Marquez.
Like most of the MotoGP grid, both VR46 riders are out of contract at the end of this season.
Former VR46 rider Bezzecchi and factory Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin will unveil their 2026 MotoGP colours tomorrow (Thursday).
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.