Who should VR46 pick? Our verdicts on the key options

VR46 must replace Fabio di Giannantonio, who will undergo shoulder surgery, for the final two MotoGP rounds of the season.

Various Ducati riders are in the mix to receive an unexpected ride in Sepang and Valencia.

Andrea Iannone, Nicolo Bulega, Michele Pirro and Danilo Petrucci have been touted.

Our MotoGP journalists have had their say...

'Iannone is the headline, but...'

Peter McLaren writes: “You can make a good case for all of the names being mentioned. I think Iannone is the headline choice, he’ll grab the limelight, coming back to MotoGP after so long.

“I personally think it would be better for Bulega to get it, for a start because he’s outperformed the others on the list in Superbike this season with second in the world championship as a rookie.

“Then if you bring in the fact that he was at VR46 Academy for many years, in the race team, then the split with VR46. It would be nice to see him come back to VR46.

“The other side of it is that jumping into MotoGP without a test is a big thing, having never ridden a MotoGP bike. On the other hand, if is potentially two rounds - if because there is talk it might be one rider for Sepang and Pirro for Valencia – then Bulega could use Sepang as the test and learn the bike.

“Bulega is also the only rider among those that I’ve heard rumoured that potentially has a full-time future in MotoGP. Ducati are losing three young riders at the end of this year in Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi, so there is a bit of a void for the future.

“Bulega is proving to be a bit of a star in Superbike and he could be an option for Ducati in MotoGP one day.

“Part of me does have a bit of sympathy for Pirro, having lost out on the wild-cards due to the concessions this year. It’d be nice for him to get some sort if reward for all his testing this year and he would know the bike better than anyone. Petrucci and Bautista being the others with recent MotoGP experience.

“But all in all, I’d go with Bulega, if he wants to do it of course!”

Petrucci 'causes less of a stir'

Lewis Duncan writes: Danilo Petrucci has had an outstanding year in the World Superbike Championship on a satellite Ducati, carrying on the great consistency he had in his first year in the series in 2023. A triple victory at Cremona helped him on his way to the independent riders' title and formed part of a scorecard that saw him a consistent podium threat.

A popular figure, Petrucci standing in for a few races with VR46 would be welcomed by the paddock and would cause less of a stir than Andrea Iannone, given the baggage the one-time race winner carries.

Double grand prix winner Petrucci also has recent MotoGP experience of the GP23, having ridden the bike as Enea Bastianini's stand-in at the French GP - in which he didn't disgrace himself by any means with an 11th-place finish.

'He wiped the floor with Bautista!'

Jordan Moreland writes: The expectations for Nicolo Bulega in 2024 as a rookie in WorldSBK were predicted to be modest, as he joined the factory Ducati team alongside reigning World Champion Alvaro Bautista, who was looking to make it three titles in a row.

Bulega not only beat Bautista over the season, he wiped the floor with him. He out-qualified Bautista in every round of the season, and was 127 points ahead of his teammate at the end of the season. 

He made his claim as Ducati's number one rider in Superbikes. Yes, circumstances with Toprak Razgatlioglu's absence for a few rounds after that terrifying crash in France did allow Bulega to take the title fight to the last round. But close fights with the outstanding Razgatlioglu have been really eye-catching, in particular the fight in the Superpole race at Estoril, in which he won by 0.004 at the line.

But Bulega's performances over the season showed that he has developed into a brilliant rider. The rider that many expected all those years ago in the Grand Prix paddock when he was under the VR46 banner. It would be a great story to see him rewarded for his great rookie season in WorldSBK and back in VR46 colours again.

'Ask Bulega, and when he says no...'

Alex Whitworth writes: In a way, VR46’s decision on who will replace Di Giannantonio in Malaysia and Valencia is straightforward. They’re offering the second-best bike on the grid and the team is owned by Valentino Rossi — they can essentially pick whoever they want.

Unless they want to pick Nicolo Bulega.

The Italian would make sense, since he was the best-placed Ducati rider in the WorldSBK standings this year, in his rookie season, and won six of the 36 races held.

He also has extensive experience with the VR46 team, having raced in it in Moto3 from 2016–2018, and in Moto2 in 2019.

But he made it clear at Jerez during last weekend’s final World Superbike round that he’s not sure whether racing in MotoGP without a test would be the best thing for him.

“To go to a MotoGP race without any test, I think maybe is not the right choice,” Bulega told Eurosport after winning Race 1 in Jerez, shortly before adding “If I can try, why not?”

Bulega, then, will at least take some convincing.

Andrea Iannone, on the other hand, has considerable enthusiasm for racing in MotoGP having been trying since the beginning of the year to find a route back to the GP paddock.

Unable to secure a move to MotoGP on a full-time basis for 2025, the VR46 fill-in might at least satisfy Iannone’s desire for Grand Prix competition.

But, does VR46 want to risk picking Iannone and have him turn up and treat it as an audition for a 2026 ride? It could result in some spectacular lap times, but possibly also a spectacular crash bill.

In comparison to Iannone, Danilo Petrucci would seem like a safe pair of hands. The Italian doesn’t seem interested in a route back to MotoGP full-time, and he’s used to MotoGP fill-in rides by now: he replaced Joan Mir at the back end of 2022 on the Suzuki, and Enea Bastianini at Le Mans in 2023.

But, while Petrucci has won three WorldSBK races this year, he also suffered major injuries in April and has had little time off since he returned to racing in June. Whether he would want to extend his season by an extra month for the pleasure of being dive-bombed by Augusto Fernandez for 17th in a Sprint suddenly seems debatable.

The final choice would seemingly be old reliable: Michele Pirro. The Ducati test rider hasn’t raced MotoGP all year because of the new concessions rules that ban Ducati from wildcard entries, but he has been testing the Desmosedici and has won back the Italian CIV Superbike title he lost in dramatic and controversial fashion at Imola in 2023.

With Pirro, VR46 will know what they’re going to get, but, unfortunately, in 2024 that is unlikely to include especially outstanding results.

So, it’s not an easy choice for VR46. Personally, I’d ask Bulega, and when he said ‘no’ I’d bell up Pirro.

'Iannone has unfinished business'

Derry Munikartono writes: My pick for VR46 replacement rider would be Andrea Iannone, and I think he still has unfinished business in MotoGP given his sudden absence from the 2020 season.

After serving a four-year suspension, Iannone finally returned to competitive racing in World Superbike. He showed no signs of a rider that has been away for a long time, taking a podium finish in his first WorldSBK race, before grabbing his first victory in Race 1 Aragon.

The door for a MotoGP comeback opened at VR46, even if only as a substitute for the final two races. Either way, it would be a remarkable comeback story, and it’s not impossible that The Maniac could make an impression in his brief cameo.

Indeed, MotoGP has evolved a lot since Iannone’s absence. But at least with his incredible adaptability – as we saw in WorldSBK this year – he could ‘finish’ his business in MotoGP.