MotoGP | Marini promotes Honda aero: “It was the weak point, good first step”

The home race was anything but easy for Luca Marini, forced to withdraw on Sunday at the San Marino Grand Prix due to a fever that came on Saturday night, which sapped his energy and prevented him from racing in front of his home crowd. The Honda rider saved some energy to take to the track in the usual tests held in Misano after the race weekend.

This day proved to be particularly important for the HRC rider, who despite not yet being in great physical shape, brought to the track a fairing with a completely new concept that exacerbates the search for ground effect and which takes up the philosophy of Aprilia and Ducati.

“I’m still very sick, I have no energy,” Marini explained to reporters. “At least the fever is gone, but it’s very hard. If I ride alone, without any riders around, I feel safe. It’s quite tough, but I have to test some important components for the development of the future, it’s important to be here. It doesn’t matter if you’re fit or not, but at least I’m able to make changes on the bike, so if I’m fast or not it doesn’t matter, at least I can understand the situation and give the best possible feedback to the engineers. Also the other riders will do more laps than me and share more information. I hope they make the same comments and follow the same directions.”

Despite the physical difficulties, the rider from Tavullia gave full marks to the new aerodynamics designed by Honda: “For me this morning it was the most important thing. It is a step to try to make the bike turn better. I like it, we have different specifications, so at the moment we have to understand what the best compromise is, but it is something that we can also try during the weekend sessions. The goal is to find greater turning, because now everyone is doing it with aerodynamics, Ducati in particular has made a big step compared to last year. I think the engineers have done a great job. Obviously it is only the first prototype of this concept, we have room for improvement”.

The new aerodynamics will be seen already at Misano 2

Marini’s satisfaction is evident, so much so that Honda has decided to homologate the new aerodynamics for the next race, which will also be in Misano in two weeks: “We will certainly try to use it already in Misano, even if we don’t know the quantities. Maybe we will have one piece per rider, because when you have to produce the parts in Japan it takes a bit of time and we weren’t sure that the fairing was perfect. Instead, in my opinion we can safely homologate it for the next race, we’ll see how many pieces we arrive with”.

“In terms of performance it can give us a few tenths, but it’s not enough because we’re over a second behind,” continued the Honda rider, who remains realistic about the real chances of catching up with the leading group. “It’s certainly one of the best updates, but I also said I was satisfied with the engine. Aerodynamics, however, is one of those things that doesn’t need to be tested again. From where we were before, which was our weak point, to now that we’re in the average, you can feel it a lot. The rider can say that it works already from the out lap, especially on fast tracks. Maybe in Jerez you’ll have a harder time understanding.”

Not only aerodynamics, the wings are also playing a fundamental role in the development of the bike: “The most important shape (of the fairing, ed.) for me it is a choice, apart from a few small wings that we can put on and take off. It makes a lot of difference, it seems little from the outside, but when the rider rides the bike it feels a lot. As well as the rear wings, they are small, but they make a lot of difference. Every time with the wings on the rear it is better, because it gives you more stability at the rear, especially when entering fast corners. Every time we try to take them off it is worse, so we have to keep them and I think everyone has them now, because they help a lot with stability at the rear”.

Aerodynamics will be the future of MotoGP at least until 2027

The Formula 1-style aerodynamic concept has been gaining traction in MotoGP for some time now. According to Luca Marini, this philosophy will continue to be predominant in the coming years, at least until 2027, when the regulations will change radically: “For the next few years, at least until 2027, much of the manufacturers’ development will focus on aerodynamics and we must try to be better than the others to try to limit our weak points where we can by solving them with aerodynamics. It is certainly an easy and economical thing that if you manage to understand it in the right way allows you to do great things”.

“Now the fairings are all bigger because when you lean at maximum angle you want it to almost scrape on the ground to recreate a bit of ground effect like in cars. Everyone has this concept now, Aprilia was the first to introduce it, then Ducati perfected it and I think that Yamaha’s biggest updates this year are also linked to aerodynamics. For us, however, it was the weak point until the last race, now it can be a good first step, but it’s the first time we’ve made a fairing with this concept, we’ll have to perfect it for next year. For 2024 we’ve finished the homologations after this one, so we’ll work to bring a fairing to the Valencia test,” concluded the Honda rider.