After returning to the podium in the Qatar GP, Luca Marini faces the MotoGP Valencian GP with high ambitions. Currently, he is ten points away from fifth place in the championship standings.

While it’s uncertain if this will be his last round with the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, the Italian highlighted his aim to end the season among the strongest riders, aiming for the top five in the World Championship.

– We arrive in Valencia for the last race of 2023, a very particular track, after a great weekend in Qatar. Let’s check the weather and temperatures, let’s not forget that we are now at the end of November. The goal is to finish on top, be able to show a good performance here too and be there in the leading group. The top 5 in the overall standings would be fantastic.

O conteúdo Luca Marini aiming for the top 5 in the championship aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The deal is pretty much closed at this point but the official confirmation is yet to be given: Luca Marini will be Repsol Honda rider for the next (two) season. The reason why the agreement wasn’t yet made official, believes Michael Laverty, is because both parties are yet working on the ‘get-out clauses’.

Former rider, the british has two full years at MotoGP (2013 and 2014) and is still very aware of the reality among the class and spoke of the deal between Marini and Honda, quoted on TNT Sports, saying why he believes it wasn’t made public: ‘It takes some time. They’ll want the various clauses, the get-out clauses. They’ll want two years fixed then the extra year to bring them parallel with the rest of the riders’.

There is a lot to work on, contract wise, he adds: ‘There will be a lot of i’s to dot and t’s to cross. You can understand why it takes time, it’s a big move. But he [Marini] was squirming a little bit there, when asked the question!’.

And added: ‘He’s such a nice guy, he wants to answer, but he can’t give us any quotes’.

O conteúdo Michael Laverty believes Luca Marini’s move to Honda wasn’t yet confirmed because ‘various clauses’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Luca Marini returned to the podium with a third-place finish at the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix. He was unable to contend for the win against Fabio di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), but he believes that his pace was sufficient and that he fell victim to race circumstances.

The Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider stated in a press conference that Bagnaia taking the lead early on thwarted his plans: ‘I’m really satisfied with the weekend, we’ve made a very solid work. The feeling with the bike was good. I knew that probably I wasn’t the fastest because Fabio showed us a very good pace from Friday. It’s just a pity because Pecco made an amazing start and my plan was to start well and be first at the end of the first lap and try to open a gap with them because I knew that with the soft front [tyre] I had something more maybe on the left corners in the first two laps. But then when I saw Pecco in front I said: «OK. Let’s manage a little bit the tyres»’.

Subsequently, Marini said that he ended up losing time behind other rivals, which cost him the chance of winning: ‘Fabio and Álex [Márquez] behind me were pushing a lot, they overtook me, and then I’ve lost a lot of time with Álex and Brad [Binder], so the opportunities of the victory were gone. But I was just trying to manage the tyres in the best way because with the soft front when you reach too much temperature it’s very difficult to ride. For my starting position the choice was to put the soft. I could also do the race with the hard, but the plan was another. But I’m very satisfied with my performance, my tyre management was good and I think had the pace to fight with them for the victory. But I’ve lost too much time during the race’.

O conteúdo ‘I had the pace to fight for the victory, but I’ve lost too much time’ – Luca Marini aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Luca Marini had a highly positive weekend in Lusail and returned to the podium, this time in the long race. In the end, he was happy with his performance and the result achieved.

‘I’m happy, a really solid weekend crowned by the double podium, a reward for the whole Team who is doing a great job. The choice of the soft was not random, the objective was to start very strong, maintain the position and open a gap. Unfortunately Pecco (Bagnaia) started very strong and in the slipstream, the first laps, I was struggling’, the rider began by saying in a statement, before concluding:

The temperature was very high, I tried to do my best and manage the tyres as best I could. It’s a shame to have wasted so much time fighting with Alex and Brad (Marquez and Binder) because we let Pecco and Fabio (Di Giannantonio) go. At the end I gave it my all and what of the tyres I was able to conserved was the key.

O conteúdo Luca Marini ‘happy’ with podium at Lusail, regrets time lost fighting Alex Marquez and Brad Binder aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Luca Marini secured a podium finish this Sunday at the MotoGP Qatar GP. Starting from pole position, the Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider wasn’t always in the top three, but managed to recover and clinch the final third place.

In the flash interview with the official broadcast, the Italian expressed the need for this type of result and performance but believes he could have contended for the win. Now, he sets his sights on the last round of the year:

– Fantastic. It was an amazing weekend, I really needed it. It’s just a pity because I’ve lost a lot of time with Álex [Márquez] and Brad [Binder], because I think that I had the pace to stay with Fabio [Quartararo] and Pecco [Bagnaia] and maybe try to win at the end of the race. But anyway, a great podium, a great weekend, so thank you to my team. We worked very well. We have just another weekend, so let’s enjoy and try to do our best also in Valencia.

O conteúdo ‘I had the pace to try to win; we have just another weekend…’ – Luca Marini aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Luca Marini wasn’t exactly happy with how his race went today in Qatar. If the podium was great, the rider suffered a lot with his rear tyre and spent more than two thirs of the race with issues.

The owner of the pole position spoke to the press and address his problems: ‘It was much worst than I expected. The result is great but I didn’t expect to struggle so much with the rear tyre, it was a disaster and after four laps it was already finished’.

After checking the data, what caused the issues was pressure related, he revelead: ‘Then we watched the data and understood that the problem was the rear tyre pressure that went through the sky and this never happened and we don’t understand why. This is a unique situation and everytime the problem is with the front tyre and today it was the rear, so we need to find a solution for tomorrow and if we did a mistake we have to fix it. If there is something I can do with my riding ok, but we need to understand the way to go’.

O conteúdo ‘It was much worst than I expected, after four laps the rear tyre was finished’ – Luca Marini aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After starting from pole position, Luca Marini finished the Qatar MotoGP Sprint race in third place. The Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider couldn’t hold off Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati).

In the flash interview with the official broadcast, the Italian rider expressed his sactisfation with the result, but admitted that he was lacking some race pace: ‘It’s great. I told you after the qualifying that I knew I was missing some tenths on the race pace and in fact this is what happened during the race. I tried to push a lot in the beginning, I tried to put a gap and fight with all the other riders for not let them go, but they were faster than me today, so I was just trying to manage to achieve this podium because it’s a fantastic result’.

Ahead of Sunday’s race, Marini explained he had some troubles with the rear tyre and he needs to figure out what happened: ‘Let’s keep pushing like this, we need to find something for tomorrow’s race because today with the grip of the rear tyre I was struggling too much. I didn’t expect, sincerely, because the hard rear during the practice was better every lap, but today it was a disaster from the lap four until the end. So we need to understand why. Everytime when there is low grip on the ground Jorge is riding very well. He has a good set-up for this kind of conditions and congratulations to him because he is doing an amazing weekend’.

O conteúdo ‘I told I knew I was missing some tenths on the race pace’ – Luca Marini aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

World lead, I’m coming for you! There you have it, Jorge Martín won the Sprint race at the Qatar GP and “cut” the lead in the world championship considerably. Fabio Di Giannantonio had no arguments to take the lead and “help” Pecco Bagnaia who ended up in a “disastrous” fifth place.

Everything was in place for the start of the Sprint at Lusail, with a different first grid than usual: Luca Marini took pole position, Fabio Di Giannantonio was second fastest and Álex Márquez third, with the championship leaders – Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín – fourth and fifth respectively, with Johann Zarco closing the second row.

The start went well for Marini, but Martín soon began to gain positions, as did Bagnaia, with both riders side by side. Martín ended up making a mistake and losing positions, before the first (joint) crash of the race involved three riders: Enea Bastianini, Aleix Espargaró and the unlucky Miguel Oliveira.

Start of the race:

Crash:

Martín didn’t want to waste any time and forced his way past Bagnaia, with A. Márquez also passing briefly for the lead, with Marini responding and retaking the lead. Seconds later it was DiGia’s turn to beat Bagnaia.

After three laps Marini was leading by 0.101s over A. Márquez, with Martín in third at 0.296s off the leader. Bagnaia was fifth at 0.895s.

Of the riders who crashed, only Bastianini remained on the track.

Martín moved up to second place and was provisionally gaining four points on the reigning world champion, who remained in fifth.

Di Giannantonio was in good form and reached the top step of the podium after beating his team-mate, who, it should be remembered, still doesn’t have a confirmed place on the grid for 2024.

Halfway through the race, this was the top ten, just moments before Martín took the race lead!

DiGia was in attack mode, with the #49 rising to second shortly afterwards. Even so, the Gresini rider was 0.494s (!) behind Martín. Bagnaia remained fifth, more than 2s behind the leader.

DiGia was one of the fastest and was starting to gain time on Martín, with the latter now leading by 0.219s. The lead increased again, but it remained in the region of 3 tenths of a second and any mistake, no matter how small, could be crucial.

Going into the final lap Martín and DiGia were 0.171s apart.

The race ended shortly afterwards with Martín confirming the victory!

O conteúdo Jorge Martín wins Sprint and “cuts” Bagnaia’s lead in half; Italian was fifth and sees title decision postponed to Valencia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Earlier today Luca Marini «responded» in the best way to the lattest rumours about his future with a stellar performance on the qualifying of MotoGP in Lusail. The italian admitted that he was somewhat ‘surprised’ with such achievement and assured he will try his best to retain the position.

This was the second time for the Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider, who didn’t held back for showing he wasn’t expecting such performance: ‘Pole position is always a fantastic feeling. I’m a bit surprised because I’m not strong on pace, but this lap was really fast’.

Now the wish is to take profit of the starting position but Marini knows he will face some challenges: ‘The start will be crucial, it’s always a bit complicated here due to the wind, it won’t be easy, but I’ll try to hold my position. The clutch will also have to be managed, we did a series of stats, but the track was very dirty, especially the pole side. Maybe it will be a disadvantage, but we will still give our best to be there’.

O conteúdo Pole position left Luca Marini ‘a bit surprised’; Italian will try to ‘hold position’ in the race aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Luca Marini secured the pole position for the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix this Saturday. In the qualifying session at Losail, the rider from Mooney VR46 Racing Team set a new lap record to edge out Fabio di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati) by just 67 milliseconds.

The Italian rider spoke to the official broadcasting and he revealed that the lap could be even better: ‘It wasn’t perfect; sincerely I think every time you can do something more. Maybe I had something in sector three – I went wide maybe in two corners, in turn seven especially. Anyway it was a fantastic lap, I really enjoyed riding the bike today’.

As for the races, Marini feels he has to do better, when he still has doubts about the tyre choice: ‘I think that for the races we need to find two tenths in the race pace, but let’s see after the tyre choice of everybody, because for me the soft front is working is working very well. But I saw a lot of hards on the front. So we will see. And about the rear for sure the hard is working very well, even for the Sprint maybe is the correct choice’.

O conteúdo ‘The lap wasn’t perfect; I went wide in two corners’ – Luca Marini aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.