It was already late, around the Malaysian Grand Prix in November, when Repsol Honda decided that Luca Marini would be Marc Márquez’s replacement in MotoGP in 2024. With few available riders, the manufacturer didn’t have many options, making the Italian their preferred choice for his fourth season in the premier class.
In an interview with the Por Orejas podcast, Marini assured that he didn’t have to convince Honda to hire him: ‘Honestly, I didn’t have to convince anyone; at that moment, there weren’t many riders on the list to go to Honda. There were some, but they did an analysis of each season each one had, in qualifying, in races, this and that, and in the end, they saw that of the available options, I could be the right one’.
Once the contact began, according to the rider, the process flowed naturally: ‘After that, talking to the Japanese, with Alberto [Puig, team director], and the others, I just had to let it flow, so they could get to know me, know the rider I am, but also the person they are hiring. And it was a normal process’.