This week, before arriving in Portimão, Luca Marini had a private testing day with Honda at the Jerez circuit. Despite finding interesting solutions for his RC213V, the rider also had a major scare with a crash at turn three, very similar to the one Marc Márquez suffered there in 2020, resulting in serious injury.
The Italian, who escaped unharmed, told the press that a good base was found during this test: ‘It was great just to have a day to enjoy the bike in a different track. It was a really good test. I think we found a base in the bike that works really well in Jerez and I hope that is working also here [in Portimão]. It will be interesting to see in a different track if it is good or not. But we’ve made good changes on the bike, because after the Qatar GP we analyzed everything during the GP, we understood what went bad. And now we are trying to fix it. I think we are in a good way now. I’m just curious to see how the bike works here. Also historically for Honda this is a better track than Qatar, so for sure I think we will be closer to the top riders’.
Quoted by Motorsport.com, Marini revealed that on Wednesday of this week he had a heavy crash on that testing day in Jerez: ‘The bike was a bit damaged, but they managed to bring it here and fix it. Fortunately, I didn’t get hurt, but the crash was very severe. It was a crash similar to the one Marc Márquez suffered when he was injured in Jerez [in 2020], at turn three. Fortunately, the bike didn’t hit me, but the crash was identical’.