Luca Marini

Luca Marini
Marini in 2015
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1997-08-10) 10 August 1997 (age 26) Urbino, Italy
Current team	Repsol Honda
Bike number	10
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2021– Manufacturers Ducati (2021–2023) Honda (2024–) Championships 0 2023 championship position 8th (201 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 58 0 2 2 1 362 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2015–2020 Manufacturers Kalex Championships 0 2020 championship position 2nd (196 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 87 6 15 5 5 626 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2013 Manufacturers FTR Honda Championships 0 2013 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 1 0 0 0 0 0

Luca Marini (born 10 August 1997) is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle racer contracted to race with Repsol Honda during 2024 and 2025. ^{[1] [2]}

Marini competed for Mooney VR46 Racing Team in the 2023 MotoGP World Championship, finishing the season in eighth position. He finished as runner-up in the 2020 Moto2 World Championship. He is the maternal half-brother of Valentino Rossi. ^[3]

Career

Moto3 World Championship

Marini made his début in the Moto3 World Championship at the 2013 San Marino and Rimini Riviera motorcycle Grand Prix as a wildcard, failing to finish the race.

Moto2 World Championship

In 2015, he got another wildcard entry at the same place, this time in the Moto2 class with Pons Racing Junior Team aboard a Kalex, finishing the race in 21st place.

Forward Team (2016–2017)

2016

In 2016, Marini was signed by the Forward Team to compete full-time in the same class; he got his first Grand Prix points in Qatar, where he finished in 10th place, and his best result in Germany, where he had a 6th-place finish. Marini still remained with the team for

2017

In 2017, Marini was signed Forward Team. Finished in 4th place, Czech Republic.

Sky Racing Team VR46 (2018–2020)

2018

Marini at Brno in 2018

In 2018, Marini achieved his first podium in Germany and his first victory in Malaysia.

2019

In 2019, he secured two podiums in Mugello and Assen, leading to back-to-back wins at Thailand and Japan.

2020

In 2020 Marini became a contender for the championship title along with Enea Bastianini and Sam Lowes, the first round of the season saw Marini retire at Qatar but would clinch his first win at the second round at the Spanish Grand Prix and claim a second-place finish in the second Jerez round (the Andalusian GP), with more point scoring finishes at Brno (4th place) and another second-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix and a point finish in Styria before claiming his second win and a 4th place respectively at the two Misano rounds before adding a third win at Catalunya.

Marini finished the French Grand Prix outside the points in 18th and at the first Aragon round he highsided off his bike and retired from the race with Lowes taking first place in the next three rounds with Marini finishing the same three rounds (Teruel, Europe, and Valencia) in 11th, 6th and 5th place respectively and finishing 2nd in Portugal behind Remy Gardner who would claimed his first win.

Marini finished the 2020 Moto2 season as the championship runner up with 196 points with over three wins and three 2nd place finishes which put Marini ahead of Lowes who had scored exactly the same points as Marini but Lowes claimed third and Marini second at the final race which meant that Marini was ahead of Lowes on countback, with Bastianini being nine points ahead of both of them.

MotoGP World Championship

Sky VR46 Avintia (2021)

For 2021, Marini moved to the MotoGP class joining the Esponsorama Avintia team along with 2020 Moto2 Champion Enea Bastianini, Marini however would use the Sky VR46 livery on his bike while Bastianini would use the Avintia livery.

For the first two rounds of his rookie season at Qatar, Marini ended up finishing 16th and 18th respectively while his teammate Bastianini finished 10th and 11th in the first two rounds. Portimao saw improvement for Marini as he managed to make it into Q2 of Qualifying through free practice and started 8th on the grid, he finished the race in 12th place.

Mooney VR46 Racing Team (2022–2023)

For 2022, Marini was confirmed to be staying in the premier class, partnering his 2020 teammate at Mooney VR46 Racing Team, Marco Bezzecchi.

For 2023, Marini finished the season for Mooney VR46 Racing Team in eighth place. He took his first premier class podium at Austin, and his first pole position at the Indonesian Grand Prix.

Repsol Honda Team (2024–)

Marini initially signed one year extension with the VR46 team, ^[4] however rumors began circulating the paddock about Marini being linked to a vacant seat at the Repsol Honda team left by the 8-time world champion, Marc Márquez. The VR46 team subsequently confirmed Marini's departure, with Honda confirming the signing of Marini two days later. ^[5]

Career statistics

FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
2013	FTR Honda	CAT1	CAT2	ARA	ALB1	ALB2 7	NAV	VAL1	VAL1	JER 14			25th	11
2014	Kalex KTM	JER1 Ret	JER2 14	LMS 10	ARA 15	CAT1 15	CAT2 16	ALB 10	NAV Ret	ALG 18	VAL1 8	VAL1 8	16th	32

FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
2015	Kalex	ALG1 5	ALG2 4	CAT 2	ARA1 Ret	ARA2 7	ALB 4	NAV1 4	NAV2 4	JER 4	VAL1 Ret	VAL2 6	5th	115

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2013	Moto3	FTR Honda	Twelve Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2015	Moto2	Kalex	Pons Racing Junior Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2016	Moto2	Kalex	Forward Racing Team	18	0	0	0	1	34	23rd
2017	Moto2	Kalex	Forward Racing Team	16	0	0	0	0	59	15th
2018	Moto2	Kalex	Sky Racing Team VR46	18	1	5	2	1	147	7th
2019	Moto2	Kalex	Sky Racing Team VR46	19	2	4	1	2	190	6th
2020	Moto2	Kalex	Sky Racing Team VR46	15	3	6	2	1	196	2nd
2021	MotoGP	Ducati	Sky VR46 Avintia	18	0	0	0	0	41	19th
2022	MotoGP	Ducati	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	20	0	0	0	1	120	12th
2023	MotoGP	Ducati	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	18	0	2	2	0	201	8th
2024	MotoGP	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	2	0	0	0	0	0	20th
Total				146	6	17	7	6	988

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto3	2013	2013 San Marino			1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moto2	2015–2020	2015 San Marino	2018 Germany	2018 Malaysia	87	6	15	5	5	626	0
MotoGP	2021–present	2021 Qatar	2023 Americas		58	0	2	2	1	362	0
Total	2013, 2015–present				146	6	17	7	6	988	0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Pos	Pts
2013	Moto3	FTR Honda	QAT	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	IND	CZE	GBR	RSM Ret	ARA	MAL	AUS	JPN	VAL					NC	0
2015	Moto2	Kalex	QAT	AME	ARG	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	IND	CZE	GBR	RSM 21	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL				NC	0
2016	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 10	ARG 18	AME Ret	SPA 16	FRA 12	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED Ret	GER 6	AUT 17	CZE Ret	GBR Ret	RSM 13	ARA 25	JPN 12	AUS 16	MAL 9	VAL 22				23rd	34
2017	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 6	ARG 12	AME 10	SPA 5	FRA Ret	ITA 6	CAT DNS	NED Ret	GER DNS	CZE 4	AUT Ret	GBR 11	RSM Ret	ARA Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 23	MAL Ret	VAL 23				15th	59
2018	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 9	ARG 16	AME 13	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 7	CAT 17	NED 8	GER 3	CZE 2	AUT 3	GBR C	RSM Ret	ARA 11	THA 2	JPN 9	AUS 5	MAL 1	VAL Ret			7th	147
2019	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 8	ARG 7	AME 6	SPA 8	FRA 13	ITA 2	CAT 6	NED 3	GER 10	CZE 5	AUT Ret	GBR 9	RSM 11	ARA 4	THA 1	JPN 1	AUS Ret	MAL 10	VAL 8			6th	190
2020	Moto2	Kalex	QAT Ret	SPA 1	ANC 2	CZE 4	AUT 2	STY 7	RSM 1	EMI 4	CAT 1	FRA 17	ARA Ret	TER 11	EUR 6	VAL 5	POR 2							2nd	196
2021	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 16	DOH 18	POR 12	SPA 15	FRA 12	ITA 17	CAT 12	GER 15	NED 18	STY 14	AUT 5	GBR 15	ARA 20	RSM 19	AME 14	EMI 9	ALR 12	VAL 17				19th	41
2022	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 13	INA 14	ARG 11	AME 17	POR 12	SPA 16	FRA 9	ITA 6	CAT 6	GER 5	NED 17	GBR 12	AUT 4	RSM 4	ARA 7	JPN 6	THA 23	AUS 6	MAL Ret	VAL 7		12th	120
2023	MotoGP	Ducati	POR Ret	ARG 83	AME 27	SPA 6	FRA Ret4	ITA 45	GER 54	NED 7	GBR 7	AUT 4	CAT 11	RSM 97	IND DNS	JPN	INA Ret2	AUS 12	THA 73	MAL 109	QAT 33	VAL 9		8th	201
2024	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 20	POR 17	AME	SPA	FRA	CAT	ITA	KAZ	NED	GER	GBR	AUT	CAT	RSM	IND	INA	JPN	AUS	THA	MAL	VAL	20th*	0*

* Season still in progress.

References

1. MotoGP™, Moto2™, Moto3™ FIM Grand Prix World Championship: 2024 Provisional Entry Lists fim-moto.com, 27 November 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023
2. Honda announces 'off-sequence' MotoGP contract for Marini the-race.com, 27 November 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023
3. "San Marino MotoGP: Rossi 'can't wait' for half-brother Luca's GP debut". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
4. "Marini to continue with Mooney VR46 in 2024". The Official Home of MotoGP. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
5. "HRC sign Luca Marini". The Official Home of MotoGP. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.

External links

• Luca Marini at MotoGP.com
• Luca Marini at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)
• Luca Marini at AS.com (in Spanish)