Luca Marini will be Marc Márquez's replacement at Repsol Honda until 2025. The Japanese brand made official this Monday the signing of the Italian driver for the next two seasons until 2025, after the Cervera rider ran his last race with the Japanese team yesterday in the Valencia Grand Prix.
The signing of the multiple Catalan champion by Gresini Racing for next season has caused a chain reaction, leading to the arrival of Marini at Honda. In turn, the latter leaves a free vacancy in the VR46 Racing Team, a team owned by Valentino Rossi and in which the man from Urbino was active until now.
Luca Marini, 26, has three years of experience in MotoGP, a category in which he landed in 2021 and in which he has only been on the podium twice. Both have occurred during this campaign, in the Grand Prix of the Americas and in Qatar where he qualified second and third, respectively.
The Italian debuted two years ago in the elite of motorcycling with Esponsorama, a cast that became the current VR46 Racing Team in 2022. 'Il Fratellino' previously raced in Moto2 for six seasons, achieving runner-up in the world championship in 2020: Enea Bastianini, current Ducati Lenovo Team rider, surpassed him by nine points. Likewise, Marini raced in Moto3 for a year for the FIM CEV, in 2013.
The new Honda '10' will be the fourth Italian driver in the history of the official HRC team, after Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi and Andrea Dovizioso. Likewise, he will become the first non-Spanish starting driver in more than a decade for the Japanese since the Australian Casey Stoner in 2012. In addition, he will have Joan Mir as a partner in the Repsol Honda garage.
The first tests of the 2024 MotoGP season will start this Tuesday, November 28. In this training session, you will be able to see for the first time the debut of Luca Marini with the Repsol Honda, as well as that of Marc Márquez with the Gresini Racing Ducati.
Also that of Pedro Acosta with the GasGas of MotoGP and that of Alex Rins with the Yamaha, in the Spanish field. Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco will do the same with the Pramac Racing Ducati and the LCR Honda, respectively.
