The debut for Repsol Honda could hardly have been more difficult for Luca Marini. The rider finished second to last in the Qatar GP of MotoGP, ending up in 20th place just ahead of Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) – a rival he had the opportunity to chase during part of the race on Sunday in Losail.
The Italian said he suffered from a problem with the RC213V, but admitted that even under normal conditions he may not have been able to achieve a much better result: ‘It was a complicated weekend. I had a small issue in the race, and that’s why my pace was so slow. But, anyway, even without that issue, I may not have been able to fight for good positions like my colleagues’.
Despite the difficulties, Marini also saw this race as an opportunity to learn: ‘I understood several things during this race because fortunately I saw on my pit board that someone was behind me and I said: “Why? Who?”. But then I also saw Jack’s pit board and I said: “Maybe it’s him!”. So I let him pass and tried to follow him, also to avoid risking tire pressure because with this quick procedure it was very strange and I didn’t want to be penalized for tire pressure. And I tried to understand something behind him, because KTM is now very strong, it has improved a lot since last year, so I believe something positive came to my mind. It is clear what we need to do for now, but we need some time to try more things‘.
