By now it has been quite clear for a few days, but now there are also the trappings of officiality: Luca Marini will be an official Honda rider in MotoGP starting from 2024. Indeed, starting from tomorrow, when there will be the first day of testing in view of next season and the rider from the Marche will have the opportunity to get on the RC213V for the first time.
Marini closed his best season in the premier class yesterday, the third of his career, placing eighth in the World Championship, with six podiums between long races and Sprints and with two pole positions achieved in the final phase of the season.
Numbers that had sealed his stay at Mooney VR46 also for next year, which had also been made official a couple of months ago. Marc Marquez’s sensational early farewell to Honda, however, opened up an interesting scenario for Luca, who never hid the fact that his dream was to become an official rider for a brand.
Faced with this great opportunity, the team owned by brother Valentino Rossi did not resist and on Saturday morning announced that it had released Marini from his contractual obligation, also publishing a touching greeting video on social networks.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Luca Marini, VR46 Racing Team
It certainly cannot be said that the Urbino native lacked the courage to accept this challenge, given that the legacy to be inherited is that of an eight-time world champion who won six titles with the Japanese company, which is experiencing probably its most critical moment from a technical point of view. Furthermore, he will share the garage with another former world champion like Joan Mir.
Marini had been identified as the right man precisely because the Japanese believe he can help them make the RC213V a competitive bike again. In fact, Luca is considered a good rider from a technical point of view, and he also knows both the bike and the working methods of Ducati well, the undisputed point of reference in the category at the moment.
After a couple of weeks of back and forth, the negotiation finally took off when Honda was willing to put a two-year contract on the table. The Italian rider, in fact, considered it too great a risk to move for just one year, especially with the task of having to develop a motorbike. But evidently his arguments must have convinced the Tokyo company if the operation went through.
Luca therefore leaves the family team, but will continue to be in all respects a member of the VR46 Riders Academy, and joins the team that had started to make his brother’s career great, who won his first three titles in the class queen with the Japanese brand (only the second and third with Repsol colors though), before the sensational move to Yamaha which took place 20 years ago.
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