Luca Marini plays down Sepang MotoGP Test gap: “You never know”

Luca Marini believes the final pre-season test at Buriram will give a clearer indication of the true MotoGP order than Sepang.

The Castrol HRC rider finished the Malaysian test just 13th overall, 1.163s behind pace-setter Alex Marquez on the Gresini Ducati.

“We improved the bike in many areas, especially braking and entry. We can be satisfied,” Marini said.

“Still, there is a lot of work to do because it looks like every manufacturer improved, so the gap is a little bit the same as in the GP here, and we need to keep pushing and keep working like this.”

Ducati riders Alex Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez also set the benchmark during Sprint simulations, when Marini was a daunting 1.5s per lap slower than Alex Marquez. 

Even Honda’s strongest Sprint sim, by team-mate Joan Mir, remained around 0.9s per lap behind Marquez.

However, Marini warned that testing times can be misleading due to factors such as tyre choice, tyre age, time of day and fuel levels.

“You never know the tyres, the fuel, even in the Sprint simulations,” he said. “So it’s not easy to understand.

“Let’s see for sure Thailand at the test. But like always, in the normal GP, everything will be more clear.”

Marini added that Honda still have further developments to evaluate at the final pre-season test, held just one week before the opening round of the 2026 MotoGP season on March 1.

“Thailand will be very important to set up the bike well for the first race, but still, we also have some new items to try there,” he said. 

“Let’s see what we can find.”