Il était déjà tard, vers le Grand Prix de Malaisie en novembre, lorsque Repsol Honda a décidé que Luca Marini serait le remplaçant de Marc Márquez en MotoGP en 2024. Avec peu de pilotes disponibles, le constructeur n’avait pas beaucoup de choix, et c’est finalement l’Italien qui a été préféré – pour ce qui sera sa quatrième saison dans la catégorie reine.
During an interview on the Por Orejas podcast, Marini assured that he did not have to convince Honda to hire him: ‘Honestly, I didn’t have to convince anyone, at that time there weren’t many riders on the list to go to Honda. There were some, but they analyzed each season that each one had, in qualifying, in races, this and that, and in the end they saw that of the available riders I could be the right one‘.
From the moment the contact began, according to the rider, the process unfolded on its own: ‘Then, talking to the Japanese, with Alberto [Puig, team manager] and the others, I just had to let it flow, so that they would get to know me, to know the kind of rider I am, but also the person they are hiring. And it was a normal process‘.
