The most talked about transfer maneuver of 2023 was undoubtedly the one involving Marc Marquez. The eight-time world champion has decided to say goodbye to Honda after 11 seasons and to go to Ducati, where he will ride the Desmosedici GP23 of the Gresini team.
This inevitably triggered a chain reaction that had repercussions on other teams, with HRC having to run for cover by looking for a replacement. Honda found it in Luca Marini, who it snatched from the VR46 team with a two-year contract. The rider from Tavullia accepted the challenge and has already started to test himself in the Valencia tests, where he had his first approach with the RC213V.
However, there are those who do not see this combination too favorably. This is Jorge Lorenzo, who raced for Honda for only one season, in 2019, before retiring due (also) to the back injury suffered in Assen. According to the five-time world champion, Marini’s choice is wrong: “Sportingly, I think it’s a mistake. I think that Honda’s desperate situation has created a contractual and economic opportunity that is difficult for Marini to refuse, who otherwise would certainly have remained in the VR46 team.”
Lorenzo himself went from racing for two years in Ducati, where he achieved three victories in total, to diving into the Honda project, from which he emerged defeated. It is precisely his experience that makes him particularly sure of the statements he made to the Spanish newspaper AS: “In Marini’s situation, I would have given priority to having the best bike to show potential and win a championship, because when you win it, your value as a driver will always be higher. Changing for money or for a challenge with a bike that, in principle, is worse than the one you have… is complicated. Many riders have gotten hurt like this.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Luca Marini, Repsol Honda Team
Honda is experiencing its most complicated moment in MotoGP and the climb back to the top positions is long and complex. According to Lorenzo, currently racing with Honda means embracing a medium or long-term project, but he also maintains that Marini is no longer so young that he can wait too long if he wants to win: “He’s already 25 years old, and imagining Honda as the best bike in two or three years it won’t be easy.”
In the Valencia tests we saw an RC213V that was noticeably different from usual and Joan Mir welcomed the innovations brought by the Japanese brand. For Lorenzo, however, all this will not be enough to make Marini adapt: “He is a very tall rider and the Honda is one of the smallest bikes on the grid. I don’t know how he’ll get on that bike. They will have to make a lot of changes for him, who is almost 1.90 meters tall.”
“With my 1.72m height, my legs were very uncomfortable, I couldn’t fit on that bike,” continues the five-time world champion. “It’s difficult for me to imagine Marini on the bike, but they’ll have to do something.” However, Luca Marini’s first tests aboard the Honda didn’t go so badly, after 72 laps in total, he remained seven tenths behind the leader of the day. There will certainly be difficulties, but Honda has brought a renewed bike.
Despite the innovations seen in the Valencia tests, Jorge Lorenzo turns up his nose at thinking that the rider from Tavullia can find confidence astride the RC213V: “Ducati and Honda are two opposites in terms of confidence with the front. Marini will have a really hard time. For me it’s a mistake in terms of results. He will experience it badly, he will have many falls”. The rider from Palma de Mallorca also puts his hands forward and claims that he could make a mistake in his assessment, but looking at the 23 crashes suffered by Marc Marquez in just one year, it is not difficult for him to imagine that the same fate could also befall his replacement in 2024.
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