English
Italiano
Uccio Salucci is living the experience of manager of a MotoGP team at the highest level, with the entry onto the grid in 2022 of the VR46 team in the top class with Ducatis and the support of Mooney, which is actively working to offer a possibility of cost-saving for the Misano fans. A project that could almost be defined as the legacy of Valentino Rossi, a great friend of Uccio who has always been by his side throughout the Doctor's career.
Yesterday Uccio participated in our LIVE broadcast, talking about many topics, including the possibility of seeing Rossi try the Ducatis currently racing with Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi. For Salucci it would be a magnificent idea to realize, but also quite complex and in addition there would be the romantic element linked to the fact that Valentino would find himself riding the bike that his brother Luca uses in the race this year, a sort of inheritance in the legacy and an undoubtedly fascinating image. This is an excerpt from the chat yesterday and the first subject is Rossi's possible test on the VR46 Ducati.
“If he wants to test it… they are his bikes! For me he can test it when he wants… but I don't see him tempted at the moment. For a rider like Valentino, testing a MotoGP bike does not mean turning up and doing three laps and then saying OK, I tested this MotoGP bike', I can do that. For Rossi, testing a MotoGP bike means organizing a test session and we know today how difficult it is to do it, but I hope he does it. I'd like him to try 'his' Ducati, so why not? Now I see him very focussed on his commitment to four wheels, so maybe it's better to leave him alone. "
The commitment in the GT World Challenge is a tough one...
"He doesn't just do a couple of laps with the car. He has chosen a very difficult championship, he trains every day, he always drives karts. His commitment is almost the same as when he was racing in MotoGP, but if he wants to do it ... .I have been pushing him for a while now and I will do it again, I would like him to try his brother's bike. I am also a bit of a romantic, their story in my opinion is wonderful. Luca has chosen to do the most difficult sport in the world for him. He could play football, tennis. He chose to be a motorcycle racer and his brother is Valentino, for a moment. I'd like to see them together in the garage, maybe see Luca advising his brother how to ride the Ducati, for years it was the opposite. It would be a very cool thing and I hope Vale does it ”.
Uccio also spoke about the significance of Rossi's retirement on the entire MotoGP world.
“We knew that Vale's retirement wouldn't be good for our sport. It certainly weighs a lot, but ours is a wonderful sport and we Italians have a lot of strong young guys. Valentino's legacy is these guys from the Academy, there is a lot of him in our team. Of course, his retirement weighed heavily ".
Finally a few comments about Franco Morbidelli, who according to Salucci is close to getting out of the tunnel which he fell into at the beginning of 2022.
“I saw that Franco looked good in Austria; he took a good step forward in my opinion. Unfortunately with this new Yamaha, which is very different from what he was used to, he is not very happy. Franco has a linear riding style; he is always clean. If you look at the 2020 and 2021 races, even while he was pushing hard and notching up the red helmets (in the split times, ed.), it seemed like he wasn't really pushing. With this Yamaha he goes fast in a different way. Franco is struggling a lot more than Fabio in getting used to the bike. Yamaha supports Franco very much and they believe in him. In Austria we didn’t see the 2020 runner-up again, but I think he has found his way. He has made a good step forward, let’s hope that he has found the right way to demonstrate what he is worth and that is a lot ”.
