Thursday afternoon at Jerez saw Valentino Rossi's pre-Spanish GP debrief unsurprisingly dominated by the announcement that VR46 will have a MotoGP team next season, after ꦅsecuring backing from Saudi Aramco.

"At the beginning [of the VR46 project] we didn’t think🐠, sincerely, about a MotoGP te𝕴am," Rossi said. "But step-by-step we have this possibility and in the end we say, why not?

"All the people in VR46 are very happy because we work a lot for more-or-less 10 years. We started f🔯rom Moto3 in the Italian championship and to arrive in MotoGP is great for us.

"I think it will be fun and it's🐟 a good way also to remain in this world when I finish my career as a rider."

The Italian also joked that it gives him another option f𝔍or 2022, should h🐭e want to continue racing but not renew with Petronas Yamaha.

"From one♍ side it doesn’t change a lot because I will decide during this season [to race on or not] and it wi෴ll depend, like I always say, on the results," Rossi said.

"From another side, maybe it's a help, because I have an extra place if I want to race with my team! For sure if I am 🐭the boss and I want to race, I can keep one bike for me! But we will see."

The VR46 MotoGP move had been announced by Tanal Entertainme🥃nt Sport & Media, the holding c💟ompany of HRH Pr꧙ince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Saud, which said:

'In 2022 the VR46 Team will debut💞 in the MotoGP class together with Tanal Entertainment Sport & Media with Saudi Aramco, as the new Main Sponsor for the period 2022-2026'.

But the press release contained no quotes from anyone at Tanal, Aramco or VR46 and some media companies, mahbx.com included, have since been cont🐼acted to say that Aramco doesn’t have knowledge of the deal.

"We know that we have a deal with Aramc🌊o to make the [MotoGP] team," Rossi insisted. "...I don’t know sincerel🅰y [why] Aramco say that they don’t know!"

The nine-time world champion added that he was not personally involved in the ne♋gotiations but is happy with the agreement.

"I don’t s🌠peak with [Aramco] myself because first of a🐲ll I'm a MotoGP rider at this moment so I'm focussed there.

"For sure I'm involved because obviously the bi💖ke has 'VR46', like this year in Moto2 and with the Ducati of Luca. But sin🔯cerely, we have a lot of people in VR46 that worked on this deal.

"I'm just the boss! I don’t speak d✤irectly with the sponsors."

While Rossi having a MotoGP team is huge news for the sport, it's been countered by concern regarding human rights in Sau✃di Arabia.

"Aramco in the last years support a lot of different sports, from football, and also very much in motorsport, Formula One, and for us it's an important partner and can help to make the t🍬eam in MotoGP," Rossi said.

"And after, for the rest we will see, maybe we can do something for improve𝕴 the [human rights] situation, but under our point of view, our relationship is for that."

A mock-up image provided by Tanal Entertainment showed a Yamaha M1 with Aramco branding, but Ros🐠si insisted no decision has yet been made on the machinery.

"♐About bikes, we speak with everybody, sincerely. Aprilia, Yamaha, Duc🃏ati… Suzuki also. I don’t know very well at this moment but I think it's not decided yet."

On paper, the arrival of VR46 plus Aprilia splitting from🏅 Gresini to have its own ꦑFactory team could mean four more bikes on the grid in 2022.

But it seems likely that VR46, which currently runs Rossi's younger brother Luca Marini within the Esponsorama Ducati team, will𒆙 efജfectively take over both of the Andorran team's grid places.

Rossi was 💞speaking ahead of his return to the circuit where he took his most recen𓃲t podium finish, in last July's Andalucia round.

"Jerez is always a grea𓄧t track for me and I have great memories in the past, including last year when I was on 🐷the podium," he said. "We need to try to be stronger, competitive, to make a good weekend.

"Also this year we race here in the right moment of the season, at the end of Ap♐ril, so it can be better than last year which was very hot and difficult for the tyres, riders and everything. So we need to try to work well from tomorrow, try to be strong during the weekend."

Rossi has a best finish of 12th place from the thr𓄧ee 🌳races so far this year.