VALENCIA, Nov 12 — Italian aces Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini will race for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team in its debut top level MotoGP season in 2022.

Rossi ends his own racing career this weekend but his VR46 team will step up to the top-level MotoGP circuit next season.

"As everyone knows we will do the tests with Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi,” the team’s Moto2 manager Pablo Nieto said of next week’s MotoGP tests.

The 24-year-old Marini is the younger half-brother of Rossi, the 42-year-old who has won nine world championships.

The charismatic Rossi bows out at the Valencia GP on Sunday with his place assured as one of the true greats of his or any other sport.

He has been building his legacy at his "VR46 Academy”, and his VR46 team makes its debut in MotoGP as a Ducati satellite.

He is also planning to try his luck on four wheels in GT Racing and is to become a father within weeks. — AFP