This year, Luca Marini joined Repsol Honda, where he found a different working environment – due to it being a different culture with Japanese engineers, after working with an Italian team until 2023.
The rider explained that right from the start, working in a factory team – where he is for the first time – is different: ‘I was in a satellite team, so it was completely different. When you go testing in a satellite team, you only focus on pure performance – you try different setups, try to be faster. So, now the work is completely different‘.
That said, Marini trusts the Honda engineers and their qualities: ‘We need to trust the Japanese. Their method is different compared to the Italian engineers, but they are very precise, very strong, they want to understand everything very well. So, it’s part of the rider’s job to try to explain the problems and share feedback in the best way. I think we have a very good connection and we are growing a lot together‘.
The Italian then elaborated on this different method he found: ‘The approach is that they want to understand everything and make sure everything works before putting it on track and maybe breaking something and causing a problem for the rider. It’s quite good for me. They just need the rider to explain everything very well and for the rider to understand the situation and share feedback in the best way by also explaining the feeling about the bike – not just yelling about the problems‘.
