How one “stupid mistake” could have conditioned one rider’s entire Japanese MotoGP

MotoGP’s current weekend format leaves little room for error, and Luca Marini could’ve ran out of margin already at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Honda HRC rider ended Friday 17th-fastest in Practice at Motegi while both LCR Honda riders made it through directly to Q2.

Marini might’ve been there himself, but a crash at the start of Practice conditioned the rest of his session, and perhaps the rest of his weekend because the expanded Michelin tyre range for this weekend has resulted in a reduced quantity of each compound option, meaning the preferred tyres are in short supply.

Marini’s crash meant he had to do the rest of Practice on unfavoured compounds, hindering his chances of getting into the top-10 which, in turn, could lead to a lowly grid position on the fifth row or worse, especially with both Trackhouse Aprilias, Fermin Aldeguer, and Francesco Bagnaia also looking for passage from Q1 to Q2.

“Difficult day one for me,” Luca Marini summarised after MotoGP Practice at Motegi.

“It was a pity because my stupid mistake to crash at the beginning of the Practice. Like this I compromised everything because we don't have enough tires, the correct tires, so I needed to make all the practice with hard front and medium rear that is really not the correct combination. 

“So, for this I was struggling so much and I lost a lot of feeling, and then at the end, when I put the correct tires for the time attack, I was not with this right feeling to push at the limit.

“Also, we didn't modify the bike from the start of this morning because even this morning we were on the wrong tires, to save the correct tires for the practice. 

“So, at the end, tomorrow morning we will reset everything and we will start again, trying from Q1 to make a good pass.”

Marini explained that the crash was caused by carrying too much speed into turn one.

“I released a little bit more the front brake, so like 2kph faster, one degree more of banking – it's a small difference, but it's enough to crash,” he said.

“I was pushing on the limit because this morning I didn't have a good feeling, so I wanted to start well the Practice to have a good confidence for stay inside the Q2, and for this I made a mistake – something that can happen. 

“But the problem is that this weekend we have a very small amount of the correct tires, so when I jump on the other bike I needed to use the wrong combination.”