Indonesian oil company Pertamina will become title sponsor for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Racing team from the 2024 MotoGP World Championship, it has been confirmed.

The state-backed company will take over from Italian banking company Mooney in backing Rossi’s satellite Ducati outfit for the next three seasons.

It marks a step up in commitment from Pertamina, which has been gaining an increasingly noticeable presence in the MotoGP paddock through its title sponsorship of the Indonesian MotoGP taking place this weekend, as well as the SAG Racing Team in Moto2.

“Welcoming Pertamina Lubricants, which for the next three seasons will be the title partner of the VR46 Racing Team, marks in a crucial way the history of our team, an important piece and a further step forward in achieving our goals," said VR46 team director Alessio Salucci.

"We are truly honoured to have entered into an agreement with a brand of this kind in the world of motorsport. With this new synergy, we not only share common ambitions, but we combine the two largest and most loyal fan bases in MotoGP. A bridge between the Italian fans and all those who follow us from Indonesia and to whom we hope to give important satisfactions in the future.

"This long-term project between two companies so experienced in the world of motorcycling and competitions, such as VR46 Racing Team and Pertamina Lubricants, aims to bring true passion for this sport from a unique point of view to hundreds of thousands of fans all around the world.

"In 2024, a new era of our history in MotoGP starts, an adventure full of successes, which began only two years ago, and which would not have been possible without the support and participation of a partner like Mooney who I would like to thank personally for mutual trust and respect.”

The length of the new deal exceeds that of VR46 Racing’s agreement to run customer Ducati machinery.

While VR46 has enjoyed instant success upon stepping up to the MotoGP class from Moto2 in 2022, there remains speculation that Rossi could leverage his historic ties with Yamaha to become its primary satellite entry from 2025.