The “inspiration” Luca Marini found growing up inside Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP success

Valentino Rossi remains one of MotoGP’s most legendary and important riders even five years after his retirement, and the height of his success coincided with the childhood of his brother, Luca Marini.

Marini has not had the same career as Rossi, but has developed a MotoGP career for himself in his own right.

The Italian has become established as one of MotoGP’s finest speakers. His communication, and his analytical approach to racing, has been HRC for three years, and KTM hopes that as a Tech3 rider in 2027 Marini will be able to help guide the development of its 850cc bike.

For Marini, the journey in motorcycle racing starts with his brother, from whom he took “a lot of motivation” from being around during his title years in the 2000s.

“When I was younger, I was with my brother in many places, many countries in the world, feeling and living from the inside all the successes of my brother in that moment,” Luca Marini told MotoGP.com.

“We know what Vale [Valentino Rossi] did and achieved on track, but also the job that was behind, that gave me a lot of inspiration and gave me a lot of good feeling every time because I enjoyed every moment.”

Being the sibling of such a rider could bring more pressure, but Marini disagrees with this.

“I will not say that there is more pressure; every MotoGP rider has a lot of pressure, it’s difficult for us competing at this level,” he said.

“Maybe when I arrived in the world championship, many people break my balls a little bit more. I learnt to deal with it, since I was young.”

Since Marini arrived in the world championship full-time in 2016, racing in Moto2, he has developed into a professional, but family remains an important aspect of his career.

“It’s true that it’s difficult because especially the pressure that we have constantly through the year, especially at some moments during the season, is tough,” Marini said.

“This is the most difficult part – when you have problems here, you arrive home and you are pretty tough, destroyed. 

“Everybody has up-and-downs and during the downs it’s difficult to look forward and keep pushing. 

“It’s not easy to deal with me during my downs, so Marta [Marini’s wife] did a fantastic job every time and she knows how to speak with me – or to not speak with me. 

“We know each other since a long time and I’m really lucky about my family because everything went in the way that I dream when I was a child.”