Luca Marini

Luca Marini (born 10 August 1997) is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle racer contracted to race with Honda HRC Castrol during 2024 and 2025.

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.

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 , 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

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In , 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

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

Sky Racing Team VR46 (2018–2020)

=2018

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

=2019

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

=2020

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In 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, 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.

After successfully undergoing the first day of testing the Suzuka 8 Hours at the Suzuka circuit, Marini had a serious crash on the second day of testing or on 28 May 2025. The Honda factory team rider suffered a dislocated left hip, ligament injury in the left knee, fractures of the sternum and left collarbone, and a right-sided pneumothorax. The Italian rider was immediately taken to a local hospital and is now in stable condition.

Career statistics

FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship

Races by year

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

FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship

Races by year

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

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

By class

Races by year

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

Season still in progress.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marini, Luca
1997 births
Living people
Italian motorcycle racers
Moto2 World Championship riders
Moto3 World Championship riders
Sportspeople from Urbino
MotoGP World Championship riders
Esponsorama Racing MotoGP riders
VR46 Racing Team MotoGP riders
Honda HRC MotoGP riders