Luca Marini

Luca Marini 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

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

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

Sky Racing Team VR46 (2018–2020)

2018

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

2019

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

2020

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, with more point scoring finishes at Brno 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 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. A standout performance at the Qatar Grand Prix with pole position and P3 finishes in both the sprint and feature race was his last podium as a Ducati rider.

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.
Marini had a successful start to his 2025 campaign, scoring points in the first seven races with a best finish of eighth at the Circuit of the Americas. However, 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 but was in stable condition. Spending the next three races absent due to recovering from his injuries, Marini made his return at the German Grand Prix with a remarkable sixth place finish in the main race. His best weekend with the team came a few races later at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he earned a best finish of fourth in the sprint before coming home fifth in the main race. After two more top-ten finishes in Catalunya and Misano, a clutch problem on the opening lap saw Marini suffer his first race retirement of the year in Japan.
Marini is set to continue with Honda for the 2026 season alongside Mir.

Career statistics

FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship

Races by year

Year

Bike

Pos

Pts

2013

FTR Honda

CAT1

CAT2

ARA

ALB1

ALB2
7

NAV

VAL1

JER
14

25th

2014

Kalex KTM

JER1
Ret

JER2
14

LMS
10

ARA
15

CAT1
15

CAT2
16

ALB
10

NAV
Ret

ALG
18

VAL1
8

16th

FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship

Races by year

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

By class

Races by year

Year

Class

Bike

Pos

Pts

Moto3

FTR Honda

QAT

AME

SPA

FRA

ITA

CAT

NED

GER

IND

CZE

GBR

RSM
Ret

ARA

MAL

AUS

JPN

VAL

Moto2

Kalex

QAT

AME

ARG

SPA

FRA

ITA

CAT

NED

GER

IND

CZE

GBR

RSM
21

ARA

JPN

AUS

MAL

VAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MotoGP

Honda

QAT
20

POR
17

AME
16

SPA
17

FRA
16

CAT
17

ITA
20

NED
17

GER
15

GBR
17

AUT
Ret

ARA
17

RSM
DNS

EMI
12

INA
Ret

JPN
14

AUS
14

THA
12

MAL
15

SLD
16

22nd

MotoGP

Honda

THA
12

ARG
10

AME
8⁸

QAT
10

SPA
10

FRA
11

GBR
15

ARA

ITA

NED

GER
6

CZE
12

AUT
13

HUN
5⁴

CAT
8⁸

RSM
7⁷

JPN
Ret⁷

INA
5

AUS
6⁸

MAL
8

POR
11

VAL
7

13th

142