MotoGP, Marini: "2022 a turning point in MotoGP history"

Luca Marini rounds out his second season in the top class on a high, both in terms of his results and his race management. From Mugello onwards, Valentino Rossi’s brother put in a strong performance, often placing towards the top of the timesheets and attracting significant attention in the process. The only negative note is that the 25-year old Italian was unable to score a podium, despite coming close on more than one occasion. “I came close to the podium, which definitely felt like it was within reach a few times. What didn’t work? There are only three spots on the rostrum (he laughs)! There’s no real reason, we were often among the fastest on track, but it’s not easy to be one of those three at the end of the race. It's not a given anyway. Sometimes we were short on luck, other times we lost a little in qualifying and had to start too far back.”

Marini: "Next year we need to aim for the win"

---

As Marini himself points out, he really began to bloom as of the Mugello GP: "Something changed between the Le Mans and Mugello races. We identified a really good base setting there and were able to use that for the rest of the season. Straight after Jerez we completed a day of testing and, for the first time, we were able to work on all those aspects that we never had time for during race weekends.”

The 25-year old Italian continues to speak about his results: "In terms of results, the second part of the season was incredible. I’m really optimistic heading into 2023, because we’ve learned and grown this year and need to aim high next year, aiming to win. Would I have believed these results at the start of the season? I think I hoped for a little more. I knew we could do well and be competitive, even before we began.”

Thanks to VR46

---

Marini also touches on VR46’s first season in MotoGP, the team having first competed in Moto3 in 2014: “If we consider that this group only landed in the top class a little under a year ago, we can say the atmosphere’s fantastic, both in and out of the paddock. We’re very close and spend a lot of time together, doing normal things like going to dinner. Many of my technicians have small children and so we find ourselves talking about everyday life. We’re a great group!"

The 2020 Moto2 runner-up underlines: "From a purely technical standpoint, and after a complicated season start, we've been practically perfect. It’s amazing to think that a large part of the team were rookies this year. Everyone had to make sacrifices at first; it’s a big jump in terms of workload to go from Moto2 to MotoGP. We had to understand the bike and the mechanisms of this new category and the guys have been fantastic.”

 

Marini praises the Italian manufacturer: "The Ducati is the most competitive bike"

---

Marini will be back aboard the Ducati in 2023, on a bike that has been a winner all season long: "The Ducati is the most competitive and quickest bike on the track. Both the results and riders tell us this. It’s powerful and easy to ride in its own way. From the start of the season to now, the Ducati engineers have taken an impressive step forward. In the pre-season tests, the situation was critical, difficult, particularly for me as I immediately had the 2022 spec. From mid-season onwards, Ducati was able to open a massive gap to the other constructors. Congrats to them for all their hard work; it’s paid off and I hope they continue like this. They really won it all in 2022!”

Lastly, the Italian confirms just how high the current MotoGP level, adding an interesting consideration of his own: "It’s been an incredible season in terms of the riders and bikes. A real show with hard-fought races in which we rarely saw one rider break away. 2022 marks a turning point in MotoGP history – we’ve never seen so many riders at this incredible level and so close to each other.”