The Italian banking company Mooney will become the new title sponsor of the VR46 Racing Team. The team founded by Valentino Rossi that will start in 2022 in both Moto2 and the MotoGP class of the MotoGP World Championship.
“Following the agreement, the team’s naming will be Mooney VR46 Racing Team and it will be used in all the team’s images (including motorbikes and riders’ suits) and in official communications. Further information will be revealed on 3 January.” VR46 Racing Team said in a statement.
Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi to race in the colours of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team in the premier class in 2022, while Celestino Vietti and Niccolo Antonelli will represent the team in the Moto2 class.
Mooney is the first Proximity Banking & Payments company in Italy. Thanks to its extensive network of more than 45,000 points of sale across Italy fully integrated with the digital ecosystem.
The company plays an important social role by providing consumers with simple, fast and convenient access to a wide range of payment solutions, such as bills, prepaid cards, telephone top-up cards and facilities such as cash withdrawals, transfers and payment orders, which were previously only possible through banks.
VR46 had reportedly secured backing from Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm in April. However, the nine-time motorcycle grand prix world champion Valentino Rossi denied the rumours.
“It is absolutely not true that we want to sell VR46 to the Saudis. This is just made-up news, we don’t even think about it.” Rossi said.
“We like it, we have our whole world there and it’s something that I have no idea how it came out.” he added.
After the deal was originally announced, it received backlash on social media due to Saudi Arabia’s historically poor human rights record.
It is unclear how much trackside involvement Rossi will have in the VR46 squad in 2022 as he gets set to embark on a season racing GT machinery.
