Luca Marini’s expert breakdown on Honda’s newfound strength and ongoing weakness

Luca Marini was thrilled to see a fellow Honda in the top 10 on Friday in Thailand, but isn’t getting carried away.

Johann Zarco was 10th-fastest in practice for the Thailand MotoGP, another small step in the right direction for the slowly improving Honda.

Factory Honda rider Marini settled for 17th but offered a detailed analysis of how the package is being tweaked.

“Here, we tried a different compromise with the setting,” Marini said.

“We tried to find a direction for next year with the weight distribution. We tried to load the rear more. We tried to make the rear tyre work in a better way.

“Because, at the moment, it is the thing that’s missing the most.

“In the first lap I warm the tyre, but it drops during the race. We are strange compared to Aprilia, KTM and Ducati. We are different.

“We want to understand and improve this.

“There are positives. It is better for braking, for stopping the bike, maybe on the grip but I need to work more on the settings and balance.

“On my side? I can improve more on the riding because I’ve done all year [in one way] but now we’ve gone beyond. As a rider, I can do better.”

Marini said about Zarco finishing Friday 10th-fastest: “He made an amazing lap but he was on the limit. He risked at every corner, and was in the slipstream.

“We need to improve the performance of the bike because, for one lap, you can do it.

“But in a race? Impossible.

“It’s a good sign to confirm what we’ve made a step.”

Marini believes he has addressed one area where the Honda traditionally struggled.

“For me, in the fast corners, we gain a lot,” he said.

“Maybe because I’m a rider that likes fast corners.

“Also, with the fairing we made a huge step.

“At Misano, I was one of the fastest. They said ‘Honda struggle through the years, every time’ but this was the first time we were good there.

“But we’ve lost in stop-and-go. Now the bike doesn’t stop, especially with the rear tyre.

“In hard braking, we are not performing well enough to be competitive with the other bikes.”

A different exhaust is available for Marini at Buriram but he won’t get too excited.

“I already tried it many times, this exhaust,” he said.

“In my opinion, the standard one is better.

“This exhaust was made to solve a situation. We have to analyse the bike to see which exhaust to use tomorrow.

“But whenever I’ve tried it, I prefer the standard one.”