Luca Marini shares why it ‘wouldn’t make sense’ if Honda copied parts on Marc Marquez’s 2026 Ducati

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Luca Marini would add the aerodynamics from Aprilia’s bike to Honda’s new package for the 2026 MotoGP season, but he would not copy anything on Ducati’s challenger.

The 2025 season has only just come to a finish after a record-breaking 22 rounds, in which Marc Marquez won his first title for Ducati after moving to Borgo Panigale at the start of this year. The 32-year-old had not won a title since he secured his sixth for Honda back in 2019.

Honda have since struggled to challenge at the front of the field, as the Japanese squad lost their way after Marquez suffered a career-threatening injury in 2020. He had ridden around their bike’s problems, and Honda failed to improve their bike while their star rider was unfit.

Ultimately, Marquez told Honda he should leave at the end of 2023 so that they could invest his huge wage on improving a bike that he could not develop. The Tokyo manufacturer would even finish 2024 as the worst team in the paddock, with satellite crew LCR also ranking 10th.

Luca Marini thinks Ducati are more focused on the 2027 MotoGP regulations than 2026

Honda finally started to see some signs of progress in 2025, as LCR’s Johann Zarco won the 2025 French Grand Prix for the first Honda win since Alex Rins in the 2023 Americas GP. The factory Honda squad have not won a race since the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP with Marquez.

READ MORE: Every MotoGP rider’s 2025 season ranked, as Marquez overshadows Bagnaia

Zarco’s victory at Le Mans also ended Ducati’s run of 22-straight Grand Prix wins. But Honda still finished 2025 with a 597-point deficit to teams’ champions Ducati, with whom Marquez won the title with five rounds to spare and won 11 Grands Prix plus 14 Sprints over 18 rounds.

But Marini believes Ducati are now so focused on designing their bike for the 2027 MotoGP regulations that it would not make sense for Honda to copy anything from the Italian crew’s 2026 package. He believes Ducati are now relying on what has won them the past four titles.

Marini told Motosprint: “I’d take everything from Honda and add Aprilia’s aerodynamics. Ducati? Right now, they’re making the difference with the working method they’ve built over the years and their consolidated package.

“But, right now, they’re thinking mostly about 2027. So, it wouldn’t make sense to take something from them with a view to 2026.”

Luca Marini, Joan Mir and Johann Zarco have helped Honda to develop but more is needed

Joan Mir won the 2020 MotoGP title for Suzuki and Fabio Quartararo won the ‘21 crown for Yamaha. But Ducati have now seen their bikes claim the title in each of the past four years, with Francesco Bagnaia in 2022 and ‘23, Jorge Martin at Pramac in ‘24 and Marquez in ‘25.

However, Aprilia finished 2025 with arguably the best bike in MotoGP, and Honda have also made progress with their package this year. Zarco and Marini ended the year 12th and 13th in the riders’ standings with 148 and 142 points, and Honda bikes also earned four podiums.

As well as his victory on home soil at Le Mans, Zarco took P2 in the British Grand Prix. While Marini did not reach a rostrum, Mir also scored his first Grand Prix podium in 67 races in the 2025 Japanese GP with P3 and reached another rostrum with P3 again in the Malaysian GP.

Test rider Aleix Espargaro thinks Honda are better in every area after trialling their 2026 bike at the Valencia test, as well. The Japanese manufacturer are taking gradual steps back to the top, and will look to make further progress in 2026 ahead of the new regulations from 2027.