Luca Marini: “Too early to be happy”, Thai MotoGP to show "real" Honda potential?
Luca Marini warns “everything is fantastic, for everybody” during MotoGP winter testing.
2025 MotoGP pre-season testing suggests that Honda, ranked last of the MotoGP manufacturers for the past three years, has taken a tangible step forward.
Inside the top ten just twice in grands prix last season, the top RC213V jumped to seventh and sixth by the end of the test sessions at Sepang and Buriram respectively.
Race pace was also encouraging.
“Really, we enjoyed the tests. I think we made a good job and now we can start the season in the best way possible for the moment,” said HRC’s Luca Marini.
“For sure it will be interesting to see our real potential in a normal GP.
"And just [I will have] the same targets as last year - try to be in front of my team-mates, enjoy riding the bike and keep developing the machine in the best way.”
Marini’s team-mate Joan Mir led the Honda challenge at the recent Buriram test, venue for this weekend’s Thai season opener.
While also playing down expectations, and warning there have been false dawns at Honda before, Mir felt he had genuine top five pace during the test.
“Let's see the standard GP, in a normal situation, with normal grip on track,” repeated Marini.
"It’s too early to be so happy. We need to wait a few races to understand well the situation because during the test everything is fantastic, but for everybody, because the track is in great condition.”
While Honda hopes to confirm progress in multiple areas, the standout weakness of the latest RC213V is top speed.
Marini confirmed there are no new parts since the test.
“We have everything the same as the test, but we will try to maximise all the package,” he said.
“We will try to work on the details and we hope that we can do something to have better top speed.
“But everything comes also from the exit, it’s not only the last part of [the straight with] the engine speed and aerodynamics.”
Free practice begins on Friday morning at Buriram.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
