# 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 2015, 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 2016, 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 2017, Marini was signed Forward Team. Finished in 4th place, Czech Republic.

#### Sky Racing Team VR46 (2018–2020)
##### 2018

In 2018, Marini achieved his first podium in Germany and his first victory in Malaysia.

##### 2019

In 2019, he secured two podiums in Mugello and Assen, leading to back-to-back wins at Thailand and Japan.

##### 2020

In 2020 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.

## Career statistics
### FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship
#### Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Pts |
| 2013 | FTR Honda | CAT1 | CAT2 | ARA | ALB1 | ALB2 7 | NAV | VAL1 | VAL1 | JER 14 | | | 25th | 11 |
| 2014 | Kalex KTM | JER1 Ret | JER2 14 | LMS 10 | ARA 15 | CAT1 15 | CAT2 16 | ALB 10 | NAV Ret | ALG 18 | VAL1 8 | VAL1 8 | 16th | 32 |

### FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship
#### Races by year

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

| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Team | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd |
| 2013 | Moto3 | FTR Honda | Twelve Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2015 | Moto2 | Kalex | Pons Racing Junior Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2016 | Moto2 | Kalex | Forward Racing Team | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 23rd |
| 2017 | Moto2 | Kalex | Forward Racing Team | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 15th |
| 2018 | Moto2 | Kalex | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 147 | 7th |
| 2019 | Moto2 | Kalex | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 190 | 6th |
| 2020 | Moto2 | Kalex | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 196 | 2nd |
| 2021 | MotoGP | Ducati | Sky VR46 Avintia | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 19th |
| 2022 | MotoGP | Ducati | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 120 | 12th |
| 2023 | MotoGP | Ducati | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 201 | 8th |
| 2024 | MotoGP | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 22nd |
| 2025 | MotoGP | Honda | Honda HRC Castrol | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10* | 12th* |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 165 | 6 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 1012 | |

#### By class

| Class | Seasons | 1st GP | 1st Pod | 1st Win | Race | Win | Podiums | Pole | FLap | Pts | WChmp |
| Moto3 | 2013 | 2013 San Marino | | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Moto2 | 2015–2020 | 2015 San Marino | 2018 Germany | 2018 Malaysia | 87 | 6 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 626 | 0 |
| MotoGP | 2021–present | 2021 Qatar | 2023 Americas | | 77 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 386 | 0 |
| Total | 2013, 2015–present | 2013, 2015–present | 2013, 2015–present | 2013, 2015–present | 165 | 6 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 1012 | 0 |

#### Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | Pos | Pts |
| 2013 | Moto3 | FTR Honda | QAT | AME | SPA | FRA | ITA | CAT | NED | GER | IND | CZE | GBR | RSM Ret | ARA | MAL | AUS | JPN | VAL | | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 2015 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT | AME | ARG | SPA | FRA | ITA | CAT | NED | GER | IND | CZE | GBR | RSM 21 | ARA | JPN | AUS | MAL | VAL | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 2016 | 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 | 34 |
| 2017 | 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 | 59 |
| 2018 | 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 |
| 2019 | 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 |
| 2020 | 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 |
| 2021 | 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 | 41 |
| 2022 | 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 |
| 2023 | MotoGP | Ducati | POR Ret | ARG 8$^3$ | AME 2$^7$ | SPA 6 | FRA Ret$^4$ | ITA 4$^5$ | GER 5$^4$ | NED 7 | GBR 7 | AUT 4 | CAT 11 | RSM 9$^7$ | IND DNS | JPN | INA Ret$^2$ | AUS 12 | THA 7$^3$ | MAL 10$^9$ | QAT 3$^3$ | VAL 9 | | | 8th | 201 |
| 2024 | 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 | 14 |
| 2025 | MotoGP | Honda | THA 12 | ARG 10 | AME | QAT | SPA | FRA | GBR | ARA | ITA | NED | GER | CZE | AUT | HUN | CAT | RSM | JPN | INA | AUS | MAL | POR | VAL | 12th* | 10* |
* Season still in progress.