It is surprising that Marini chose to give up a Ducati, the most competitive bike on the grid, to embark on the Honda project, which reaped the worst results in 2023. However, the move is even more paradoxical if you look at the driving force: the the driver’s desire to leave Mooney VR46, the team that bears his brother’s initials, to enter a more than uncertain future in the hands of HRC, which has become a driver-shredding machine and seems to be directionless from a technical point of view.
Marini will follow the same path as Marc Marquez but in the opposite direction; a path that, from the beginning, does not seem to offer too many guarantees of success, unless Honda applies a revolution in its working methodologies. And, despite this, the young man from Urbino has decided to leave Mooney VR46, the team that many might consider his comfort zone. But was it really?
Rossi almost never appears in any Grand Prix, but his spirit is indirectly represented by Uccio Salucci, his right-hand man and team manager. The fact is that Uccio is Rossi’s soul friend, not his brother, who has a very different sensitivity.
The structure of the “Doctor” is built on the pillars that have always accompanied the multiple champion. That group organization that well defines the concept of tribe, very present in the iconographic universe of the star of Tavullia. This sense of family is as important for some, like Marco Bezzecchi, as it is relative for others, like his neighbor in the garage.
For “Bez”, being with his people is so important that he put it before the promotion that would have meant racing next season in Pramac, where he would compete with the more advanced Desmosedici GP. The rider from Rimini, however, preferred to give up the GP24 to continue to surround himself with those elements that give him the stability necessary to be competitive.
It is clear that for Marini the priority is another. In fact, he wasn’t pleased that no one thought of him when Bezzecchi said no to Pramac’s Ducati, which will ultimately go to Franco Morbidelli.
“Luca is going his own way. He is ambitious and has always maintained that his goal is to have an official bike in an official team. And he knows that, at the moment, it is not within his reach in Ducati,” he told Motorsport .com an entry from the Mooney VR46 box. “He is also very keen to prove that he deserves everything he gets, without anyone thinking that he gets it because he is Valentino’s brother,” adds the authoritative voice.
Last Sunday Bezzecchi did not want to go into the merits of who he would prefer to replace his teammate, but he mentioned, in a veiled manner, the current rift between Marini and the Academy. “I don’t want to imagine what it would be like not to have ‘Maro’ as a teammate. We have always known each other, even if he is not training with us now, because he has changed his whole preparation and has distanced himself a bit,” he said the third rider in the general classification on Sky’s microphones.
If Marini’s probable departure from the Mooney VR46 has taken more than one by surprise, there are also those who do not look favorably on the move made by Honda. Especially if we take into account that the Japanese manufacturer seemed closed to the possibility of offering an agreement lasting more than one year, precisely the condition posed by the Italian to accept the challenge.
A priori, the numbers of Marini, who is still hunting for his first victory in MotoGP and is eighth in the World Championship standings – he is fifth among the eight Ducati riders – do not justify a change in strategy of this caliber, a circumstance which leads one to think that there is some element still hidden.
If nothing goes wrong at the last minute, Marini’s contract with HRC could be signed as early as this week in Lusail, venue of the penultimate round of the calendar. There isn’t much time to prepare everything if Honda’s intention is to debut the number 10 on the RC213V in the Valencia tests on November 28th.
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