Luca Marini: Grip still “impacting our performance”

Luca Marini arrives in Barcelona fresh from his best weekend yet with Honda and his 2026 future officially secured.

The Italian’s one-year HRC contract extension was confirmed in the days following his career-best Honda results in Hungary, where he finished fourth in the Sprint and fifth in the Grand Prix.

Those were Marini’s strongest results since his Qatar podium for VR46 Ducati in 2023.

Marini has been using a new chassis for the past two rounds, both held at stop-and-go tracks, and is eager to see how the latest parts perform on the more flowing Catalunya layout.

Low grip is another characteristic of the Barcelona circuit, and remains an area of sensitivity for the RC213V.

“It’s great to announce the extension of our collaboration with Honda HRC. I am really excited to continue with this project,” Marini said.

“We arrive in a good moment after a strong weekend in Hungary, but we need to understand that Barcelona is another style of circuit, and we need to keep working hard.

“The grip is very different and this is still something that is impacting our performance quite a lot. It will be important to adapt as the track condition evolves over the course of the weekend.

“We need to continue as we have and keep our focus. Let’s end the year in a positive way.”

Team-mate Joan Mir is also reserving judgment on the new chassis. The Spaniard ended a run of six consecutive non-scores with sixth place in Austria, then repeated that result in the Balaton Park Sprint before crashing out of the GP.

Mir, whose best Catalunya result remains second for Suzuki during his 2020 MotoGP title season, is cautiously optimistic.

“Montmelo is a circuit I know well and that we have tested at, both ourselves and the Test Team,” Mir said.

“We have been able to have some really good speed the past few weekends and good results in Austria. Last time in Hungary we had some misfortune again, but this can happen in our situation.

“To me, I know that we can be in and around that top six or seven if we put everything together during the weekend and make the step at critical moments.

“We are improving, we just need to keep on working.”

Marini is 13th in the world championship and Mir 18th. LCR’s Johann Zarco, also newly confirmed as remaining at Honda, remains the leading RCV rider, in ninth.