Luca Marini urges Honda to make better use of ‘excellent’ additions to improve 2025 MotoGP bike

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Luca Marini urges Honda to make better use of their two ‘excellent’ new additions to improve their 2025 bike and prevent being the worst manufacturer in MotoGP again.

The Japanese brand endured a year they will forever wish to forget in 2024 as Honda scored a meagre 75 points in the constructors’ championship. Honda only registered 10.39% of the 722 points that Ducati secured to seal the title thanks to just two top-10 Grand Prix finishes.

Honda even came rock bottom of the teams’ championship with just 35 points in their tally, with satellite outfit LCR Team finishing one place higher in 10th with 86. Joan Mir registered the factory Honda crew’s best race result of 2024 with his P11 in the San Marino Grand Prix.

Marini also managed his joint-best result of the term at Misano, and matched his P12 in the Thai Grand Prix where Johann Zarco came home in P8 for LCR’s best finish. Zarco also took a P9 finish in the Indonesian Grand Prix to be the top Honda rider with P17 in the standings.

Luca Marini urges Honda to utilise new test riders Aleix Espargaro plus Takaaki Nakagami

To try and close their gap to not only Ducati but also KTM, Aprilia and Yamaha, Honda hired Aleix Espargaro plus Takaaki Nakagami as test riders beside Stefan Bradl. Espargaro took up their offer after deciding to retire from full-time racing, while Honda moved Nakagami over.

Honda also hired Romano Albesiano from Aprilia as their technical director from 2025. But while Marini is excited to see what Espargaro and Nakagami can do with Bradl, the 27-year-old is adamant Honda must organise their test team better if they are to improve the RC16.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Honda from the MotoGP team’s riders to leadership

“This year, I hope that the organisation with the testing team will be better,” Marini said, via quotes by Motociclismo. “It doesn’t depend so much on the riders but they will certainly do an excellent job.

“Taka speaking Japanese can be very precise and explain the situation very well. But the organisation around it has to be super precise because it’s very easy, even with two very good and fast riders, to lose your way.”

Luca Marini must improve his lap times after Joan Mir’s pre-season speed surprised Honda

Pre-season testing was not entirely helpful for Honda improving the RC16, leaving test riders Espargaro, Nakagami and Bradl with a lot of work to develop the machine Mir, Marini, Zarco and rookie Somkiat Chantra will race. Chantra has replaced Nakagami at LCR Honda in 2025.

Factory pilots Mir and Marini disagree about Honda’s problems after the Sepang Test, where they ended Day 3 in P8 and P15. Like for most of last season, Zarco was the top Honda in P7. But the LCR racer was still 0.711 seconds off Gresini rider Alex Marquez on the Ducati GP24.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Joan Mir from net worth to career stats

The Buriram Test offered some encouragement, with Mir finishing Day 2 at the Thai GP track in P6 and 0.544s off Ducati’s Marc Marquez. Yet Marini was P14, Zarco was P16 and Chantra was P20. Honda had to control themselves over Mir’s pace after a Sprint simulation, as well.

So, while Marini hopes Honda make progress with Espargaro and Nakagami joining their test team in 2025, the Japanese brand will also hope the Italian can get closer to Mir’s times. The Urbino native has 75 MotoGP Grands Prix to his name but scored points in six with a Honda.