Marco Bezzecchi
Luca Marini is preparing for what could be a key year for the Italian with his contract at the factory Honda MotoGP team ending, but another tough term may be on the cards.
The 27-year-old lives outside of the norm of most riders having signed for Honda out of sync with the MotoGP rider market. Most teams have recently tended to issue two-year deals, so are locked in through 2026. But Marini is one of five riders whose contracts will end in 2025.
Honda handed Marini a two-year deal to secure his arrival from VR46 Racing Team from the 2024 season after Marc Marquez terminated his contract to join Gresini – a move which led to joining Ducati in 2025. But his first campaign for the Japanese brand was a year to forget.
Luca Marini doubts Honda can catch Ducati despite the MotoGP team’s progress
Marini joined Honda off the back of his best of three seasons in MotoGP for VR46, in which he took two podium finishes and 201 points over 18 rounds on a Ducati Desmosedici GP22. Yet through 19 rounds on a factory Honda RC213V in 2024, Marini could only pen 14 points.
The Urbino native’s teammate Joan Mir also only scored 21 points in 2024 via seven top-15 Grand Prix finishes and one top-nine Sprint finish compared to Marini’s six and zero. Honda even finished 2024 last in the teams’ standings, just behind satellite team LCR on 86 points.
READ MORE: Every MotoGP team’s confirmed 2025 rider line-up and contract details
Honda made some progress with their troublesome RC213V bike at the official 2024 Misano test in September. But while Marini is pleased Honda have eaten slightly into their deficit to their rival MotoGP teams, he doubts if they can catch Ducati under the current regulations.
“[I’m] happy with the progress,” Marini said, via quotes by Todo Circuito. “We started with a deficit of 1.8 seconds per lap in some races. Now, we are at one second per lap.
“It’s a long road to travel. Reaching Ducati’s level may not be possible but the goal is to beat all the manufacturers at the moment and then we will try to think about beating Ducati.”
Honda are exempt from the MotoGP engine freeze coming into force in 2025
Ducati bikes continued to dominate MotoGP in 2024 with the factory crew taking the teams’ title on 884 points ahead of satellite outfit Pramac, with whom Jorge Martin won the riders’ championship. Even Yamaha outscored Honda with 144 points, despite their own problems.
So, Marini has zero doubts about the ‘long road’ Honda face to shine again after dominating MotoGP with Marquez for so long. Since Honda lifted the riders’, teams’ and manufacturers’ titles in 2019, they have only ranked higher than ninth in the teams’ standings once in 2021.
Thus Honda plus Yamaha are exempt from the MotoGP engine freeze the FIM issued for the 2025 and 2026 seasons before new regulations arrive in 2027 due to their concessions. Yet rivals Ducati, KTM and Aprilia have to declare a sample engine by the Grand Prix of Thailand.
Being able to continue developing their engine during the 2025 season might help Honda to find further improvements. But it could also leave them at a disadvantage to their rivals who can put more resources on the engine changes and aerodynamic restrictions on the horizon.
MotoGP will also slash the current 1,000cc engine formula to 850cc in 2027, meaning Honda must also develop two engines at once if they are to give Marini and Mir a bike on which they – plus satellite LCR riders Johann Zarco and Somkiat Chantra – can secure stronger results.
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