Luca Marini: ‘Marco made the difference, I knew the team would win’

Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi both made their victory aspirations clear heading into this season, but Bezzecchi got there first.

A close runner-up to Brad Binder in the dry Sprint, Bezzecchi then delivered a dominant victory for Valentino Rossi’s team in soaking wet conditions on Sunday.

But it was also a memorable weekend for Marini, who was 0.8s from Bezzecchi in the Sprint for his first MotoGP top three.

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“Congratulations to Marco and the whole team. He made the difference: strong in the warm-up and really good at the start,” Marini said.

“It is fantastic. I knew the team would win a race this season because we are very fast, I just hope to have an opportunity also for me in the future.”

While Bezzecchi, who qualified on the front row, splashed to victory, Marini struggled for rear grip on his way to eighth.

“We were struggling a lot with the traction and the rear and a lot of people overtook me at the beginning of the race and it was difficult,” Marini said. “I said ‘Okay, let’s try to manage the tyres and maybe I can come back at the end of the race…’ but at the end of the race I had no tyre.

“It was tough because I was just slow. I could not do more than this. I pushed 100% every lap. This was my pace. So we need to understand, analyse the data, and look at the pace of Bezz and try to understand why he was so fast and how it was with his setting, the electronics or maybe the riding style.

“Anyway it is a positive weekend for me. I am happy because this is like a new start to the season for me,” added Marini, who crashed out of both races at Portimao.

Francesco Bagnaia’s mistake means Bezzecchi now leads the world championship, with Marini in eleventh, heading into next weekend’s COTA round.