Marini: “I have often been close to the podium”

Runner-up to Enea Bastianini in Moto2 in 2020, Luca Marini arrived in MotoGP last year. The Italian has always reached the finish with the exception of the Malaysian Grand Prix this year during which he suffered a problem with his ride height device. 

Outside of the Top 10 in the first rounds of the 2022 season, he gradually got closer to the front with a ninth place at Le Mans, followed by two sixth places in Italy and Catalonia before finishing fifth in Germany. But it was upon returning from the summer break that he really stood out. “The second half of the Championship, in terms of results, was incredible,” he confides. I am very positive for 2023, because this season we have learned, we have grown and for next year we must aim high, seek victory. Would I have signed for these results at the start of the season? I would say no, on the contrary, for something better. I knew I could do well, I knew I could be competitive. »

The half-brother of Valentino Rossi is an example of consistency, but unlike his rookie teammate Marco Bezzecchi, who officiated on the GP21 (previous model of the Desmosedici), he never managed to get on the podium. “I have often been close to the podium, and sometimes it seemed really within reach. What went wrong? There are only three places on the podium! There's no real reason for it, we've been among the fastest many times, but it's not easy to be one of those three in the end. In any case, it is not obvious, it is not a given. Sometimes we were unlucky, other times we lost something in qualifying and we started from the back of the grid. »

A setting base that changed the game… 

Just like Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller in the official team, and Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin at Pramac, Marini also had the GP22, the latest model from the Borgo Panigale factory. The VR46 team driver explains that it was after finding the right set-up that his season took a completely different turn. “Something has changed between Le Mans and Mugello, he said. We found there an excellent basis for adjustments which we then exploited during the rest of the season. Immediately after the Spanish GP, we did a day of testing at Jerez and, for the first time since the winter tests, we were able to work on all the points that we don't have time to cover during the race weekend, taking into account the timing of the sessions. »