Luca Marini · Biography

In 2011 Luca Marini won the Italian MiniGP 80 championship with a perfect record: six poles and six wins from six races, sealing the title with two rounds to spare. Born on 10 August 1997 in Urbino, Italy, he is the son of Stefania Palma and the maternal half-brother of Valentino Rossi. He finished runner-up in the 2020 Moto2 World Championship and has raced in MotoGP since 2021, first with Ducati and with Honda from 2024.

Early years in minibikes

Marini started racing as a child. In 2004 he contested the European minibike final in the Netherlands, where he finished fifth. Over the following years he worked his way through the Italian junior categories, culminating in the 2011 national MiniGP 80 title on an RMU. That same year he stepped up to the Italian Speed Championship (CIV), riding a Honda in the Moto3 class at the season opener at Mugello.

The Spanish championship and first grands prix

In 2013 he raced in the FIM CEV Moto3, the benchmark series for young riders aiming at the world championship, and finished 25th with 11 points. That year he also made his Moto3 World Championship debut as a wildcard at the San Marino Grand Prix on a Twelve Racing FTR Honda, although he did not reach the flag. In 2014 he returned to CEV Moto3 and ended the year 16th with 32 points. The step up in capacity came in 2015: with Pons Racing and a Kalex he was fifth in the CEV Moto2 European Championship with 115 points, becoming the first Italian to stand on the podium in that class. The same year he entered the Moto2 San Marino Grand Prix as a wildcard and finished 21st.

Forward Racing: learning the ropes in Moto2

In 2016 he made his full-time Moto2 World Championship debut with Forward Racing. His best result was sixth in Germany, and he closed the year 23rd with 34 points. In 2017, with the same team, he came close to the podium with fourth place in the Czech Republic and climbed to 15th overall on 59 points.

Sky Racing Team VR46 and the first wins

In 2018 he joined Sky Racing Team VR46, the outfit linked to his brother. That year he took his first podium in Germany, finished second in the Czech Republic and claimed his first world championship win at the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, ending the season seventh with 147 points. In 2019 he added two more victories, in Thailand and in Japan, the latter at Motegi, and finished sixth with 190 points.

2020 was his best year in the intermediate class. He won in Spain, San Marino and Catalonia and stayed in the title fight until the closing rounds. He finished runner-up with 196 points, behind Enea Bastianini and level with Sam Lowes, whom he beat on countback. He left Moto2 with 87 starts, 6 wins, 15 podiums and 5 poles.

Ducati and the VR46 team in MotoGP

Marini moved up to MotoGP in 2021 with Sky VR46 Avintia on a Ducati. He was 19th in his rookie year with 41 points. In 2022 he switched to the Mooney VR46 Racing Team and improved to 12th with 120 points. His strongest premier-class campaign came in 2023: third in the Argentina sprint, second at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, his first MotoGP race podium, and a maiden pole in Indonesia, where he was also second in the sprint. In Qatar he added another pole and two third places, in the sprint and the main race. He finished eighth with 201 points.

The Honda project

In 2024 he left Ducati to join the Repsol Honda Team, at a time when the Japanese manufacturer was rebuilding. In that first year he finished 22nd with 14 points. In 2025, with the squad renamed Honda HRC Castrol, his results improved. On 28 May he suffered a heavy crash during a test at Suzuka that left him with a dislocated hip, ligament damage in his left knee, fractures of the sternum and left collarbone and a pneumothorax. He missed three races and returned in Germany with sixth place. In Hungary he achieved his best results of the year, fourth in the sprint and fifth in the race, and ended the championship 13th with 142 points. Honda retained him for 2026 alongside Joan Mir, his teammate since he arrived at the factory in 2024.