The 2024 MotoGP season is not going according to plan for Luca Marini so far. After the first five race weekends, the Honda newcomer is the only regular driver still waiting for his first championship point and these days he finds himself consistently behind in last place in the rankings. The first rumors were circulating from Italy that the VR46 protégé would want to leave the Honda Racing Corporation at the end of 2024. But this is ‘fake news’.
“That’s something that makes me pretty angry,” said Marini at the media Thursday in Barcelona when asked whether he would look for other options for 2025. This was preceded by a report from the Italian portal ‘ Moto sprint‘, after which he could be eyeing a move to Aprilia and Trackhouse Racing. “I don’t know why perhaps one person in particular started this rumor. Probably to gain personal advantages or to get something moving,” Marini then expressed his anger and reiterated: “I am very happy at Honda and have faith in this project.”
Luca Marini calls for calm: Those were only five MotoGP races!
The 26-year-old was only signed by the Repsol Honda team last November after MotoGP superstar Marc Marquez prematurely terminated his contract with the Japanese company HRC, which was actually due to run until the end of 2024. The struggling manufacturer from Asaka then announced a new start after falling further and further down the MotoGP rankings in previous years. In addition to Marini, the experienced Johann Zarco was also signed for the LCR team to help with the further development of the driver-unfriendly and slow Honda RC213V.
However, nothing is left of the initial spirit of optimism after the test drives. Instead, Honda has recently slid from one debacle to the next, with a completely newly developed prototype turning out to be a failure. But Marini is not going to let that bother him. “It was only five race weekends, we are still at the beginning of the season,” he says, adding: “A lot can still change by the end of the season because Honda is investing a lot and working hard. They are bringing us a lot of new parts, big parts. I am completely focused and happy with the job I have here. It is true that it is hard because last year I was fighting for the podium in every race and now I am racing for the last point. But I am very happy here and I am sure that everything will get better.”
Repsol Honda: First progress after private test in Mugello?
But it will probably be some time before then. In any case, there were no major improvements during a private test in Mugello last week. “We’ve been working on a lot of things. So the test was pretty positive, I would say. Now we have to figure out what parts we need tomorrow [Trainingsfreitag, Anm.] on the track,” says Marini, and knows: “We are going in the right direction. Perhaps we will already see [in Barcelona, Anm.] first changes, but it is difficult to say whether the performance will change dramatically after just one test. So maybe we will be behind again in Barcelona, on Friday we will get a clearer picture.”
Can Honda test driver Stefan Bradl make progress for Honda in Barcelona? In any case, the German is starting with a wildcard. You can find all the information about it here: