        MotoGP lands in Europe, the Portugal GP the first in a long series of races. Luca Marini is pleased about this, as he&rsquo;s keen to race at the Circuito do Algarve: "I&rsquo;m happy to be here, because I like the climate and the structures on the Old Continent. The paddock is fully operational, I feel comfortable and have more fun. Life&rsquo;s good in Europe, there&rsquo;s lots to do, and I really like this track. Ducati was strong here in 2021, me too. I feel positive and pumped up". You&rsquo;re quick in practice, what do you still need to be quick in the races too? "Nothing in particular, it&rsquo;s just getting the right combination. We&rsquo;re working to get everything sorted, the team is new and the bike too. At the start of the year we struggled a little, realising that the race is the time to collect the most indicative and useful data. The team and rider too can only understand certain things during the race. I need some rounds under my belt. But now that we&rsquo;re in Europe at tracks we know better, we can harness the experience gained over the last four rounds and try to run up front". Is there work to do on the bike or on yourself? "On the bike - we need to refine the electronic management and the tyre performance. In every race so far this year, we&rsquo;ve had a few particular issues. We know what the weak points have been and where we were less than perfect and understand how to improve. We&rsquo;ll put it all together here.&rdquo; Marini: "Me, heavy for MotoGP? As if"  There has been talk about Luca&rsquo;s weight but is it really an issue? As if: "Well, I weigh maybe a couple of kilos more than other riders, but I&rsquo;m not too heavy for MotoGP. Also because I couldn&rsquo;t weigh any less than this (he laughs). I&rsquo;m very careful about everything, staying as light and as in shape as possible. Obviously everything has its limit. But my current problem isn&rsquo;t my weight, on the contrary&hellip; At Austin, I was lacking acceleration and speed, but I wasn&rsquo;t the only one to complain. Weight has nothing to do with it.&rdquo; Once the tyres are worn, is the bike very different to ride? "Not particularly. From last year until now, tyre wear has gradually become less of an issue. We can now complete each lap of the race pushing almost 100%. The only thing is the overheating of the rear tyre, a situation we have to manage. We often use the soft solution in fact. With respect to 2019, not much has changed, you have to adapt in the saddle.&rdquo; Considering Bastianini, would you like to use the GP21, already developed and complete? "The team couldn&rsquo;t have known how the first races would go, so I think that the GP22 was the right choice. I couldn&rsquo;t ask for more. Analysing the data, perhaps we can say that the GP21 would have been easier, it might have helped me a little. During testing, I suffered and also had to get to grips with everything, a new crew chief, the bike. We&rsquo;re a little behind, but I&rsquo;m in no hurry - this is my second year in MotoGP, I&rsquo;m not in a hurry to win. I&rsquo;m sure the results will come.&rdquo; Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP: Bagnaia criticises the Portim&atilde;o gravel, Tardozzi explains why       

Ahead of the Portugal GP, Luca clarifies one thing: "I&rsquo;m maybe two kilos more than other riders, I can&rsquo;t go any lower. Win? There&rsquo;s no hurry, this is my second year in the reigning class&rdquo;

Portugal GP, Marini: “My weight? That’s not the problem in MotoGP”

Unlike Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini takes on MotoGP as an &quot;expert&quot;, remaining with the Mooney VR46 team. Valentino Rossi&rsquo;s brother already has one season under his belt, a year in which he learned a great deal: &ldquo;2021 wasn&rsquo;t terrible, but it was hard, definitely. But I&rsquo;ve learned a lot of the fundamentals, putting all the details together&rdquo;.  Luca has the right enthusiasm to do well in Qatar, and throughout the championship in fact: &quot;I&rsquo;m living a dream, in the reigning class of motorcycling. I have a good team, they&#39;re strong and the Ducati is impressive. In fact, compared to the version I rode last year, I can&rsquo;t find any weak points to the GP22&quot;.  Marini previously rode the GP19 and is now experiencing a significant step up in terms of competitiveness: &quot;Yes, like I&rsquo;ve said, but we need to move forward with the development, and do it right. I can express my riding style with this bike and feel more natural in the saddle, avoiding any unnecessary effort. Added to which, I&rsquo;m also more experienced as a rider&rdquo;.  Enjoyment will depend on the... speed   Luca is pleased and it shows &ndash; the track is his favourite part of the job. The number 10 rider is asked whether he&rsquo;ll enjoy himself: &ldquo;Ah, no doubt but, you know, it depends whether we&rsquo;re fast. Enjoyment doesn&rsquo;t have to do with the results but the feeling in the saddle, the lap times. The competitiveness, essentially&rdquo;.  What does a rider need to do to run up front in MotoGP? The qualifying sessions are key: &quot;Fundamental I&rsquo;d say&rdquo;, he continues, &ldquo;because we&rsquo;re all within a few tenths of each other. There are sometimes 20 riders within a second, particularly in testing. This happens less often over a race weekend.&rdquo;  Marini expands: &quot;You need to get straight into Q2, or it&rsquo;s tough. I hope to do that here at Losail. Q2 is the most important part of the race, which will run at 6pm this year. Better, hopefully the temperature won&rsquo;t drop too much and the tyres won&rsquo;t suffer. We&rsquo;ll need to choose the right visor, with the sun going down. Formula1 raced here so we might find some potholes but&hellip; I like racing at tracks where F1 comes, a category that always puts on a show&quot;.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Bezzecchi: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m 50% there, but i have Valentino&rsquo;s advice&rdquo; 

Luca: &quot;Compared to the Desmosedici I used last year, this version lets me ride as I want. I&rsquo;ve gained experience, which will be useful. Enjoy it? It depends, if we&rsquo;re fast, we&rsquo;ll enjoy ourselves&rdquo;.

MotoGP, Marini: &ldquo;Impossible to find a weak point to the 2022 Ducati&rdquo;

        The 2022 season will be important for Luca Marini, one of the rookies who suffered the most last year but who, at the same time, also demonstrated his talent on several occasions, particularly in terms of his pure speed over the flying lap. Marini has worked well during the winter tests, closing with the third fastest time at Mandalika, and it also looks as if he&rsquo;s made progress with his race pace. The Ducatis have reconfirmed their level of competitiveness and Luca&rsquo;s performance over the winter only heightens the goals and ambitions. Marini looks ahead to the 2022 season: "MotoGP is at a very high level right now"  The championship is around the corner and in a little over a week we&rsquo;ll see where the riders really stand. Marini, who appears to have improved both physically and technically during testing, knows he is riding a bike that has all the potential to compete for the podium: &ldquo;I think we can all have fun this year. The level is extremely high in MotoGP right now, everyone has a bike that is practically factory and they are all fast&rdquo;, he comments. &ldquo;Everyone&rsquo;s competitive and this is great, I like it when the level of competition is so high. We need to work on the details and I think we can make the difference as a team, also because I enjoy working with these guys. I also want to thank Ducati of course for all its support&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson Wayne Rainey at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of speed with his YZR500       

The Mooney VR46 Racing Team has unveiled the bikes that will take to the track for the opening round in a little over a week. The Italian prepares for his second season in the reigning class

MotoGP, Marini ready for the season: “We can have some fun this year”

        Valentino Rossi&rsquo;s &lsquo;second&rsquo; career kicks off in Abu Dhabi as he prepares for life as a racing driver after having bid farewell to the MotoGP paddock. The Italian will be at the Yas Marina track on 7-8 January to participate in the Gulf 12 Hours, a four-wheel endurance race now in its tenth edition. Rossi-Marini-Salucci  The Italian will drive the Ferrari 488 GT3 belonging to the Monster VR46 Kessel Racing Team, taking turns at the wheel with Alessio Salucci and Luca Marini. The team will be entered in the Pro-Am class, the same category in which the trio was able to win in 2019 (third overall). The grid will comprise 15 cars, including 12 of the best GT3 vehicles. The manufacturers competing are Mercedes, Ferrari and Audi. How to watch the race  The tenth edition of the Gulf 12 Hours will be live streamed on the event&rsquo;s official website and on its Facebook and YouTube channels. Here is the schedule (CET): Friday 7 January - Qualifying Qualifying 1: 15:00 &ndash; 15:15 Qualifying 2: 15:25 &ndash; 15:40 Qualifying 3: 15:50 &ndash; 16:05 Saturday 8 January - Race Part one: 06:35 &ndash; 12:35 Part two: 14:30 &ndash; 20:30 Translated by Heather Watson Petrucci with Ducati in MotoAmerica: a prelude to the World Championship?       

The nine-time world champion will take part in the endurance race aboard team Kessel&rsquo;s Ferrari 488 GT3. He will be joined by Alessio Salucci and Luca Marini

Valentino Rossi on the attack in the Gulf 12 Hours: info and TV schedule

        While 2021 saw VR46 take to the MotoGP grid thanks to a collaboration with team Avintia, this year the brand will make its official debut as a privateer Ducati team known as the Mooney VR46 Racing Team. Ahead of the 2022 season, the team has confirmed title sponsor Mooney with a press release, with further details having now been revealed. The roles within the team  The owner of the team that will make its debut in Qatar on 6 March is of course the man himself, Valentino Rossi, who has elected his friend Alessio &ldquo;Uccio&rdquo; Salucci to be technical director. The role of CFO goes to his other right-hand man, Carlo Alberto Tebaldi. As for the roles within the team, Pablo Nieto will serve as team manager for the MotoGP team, while Luca Brivio is promoted to head up the Moto2 team. In MotoGP David Mu&ntilde;oz will act as crew chief to Luca Marini, having previously worked with Rossi, while Matteo Flamigni, the Doctor&rsquo;s faithful telemetrist, will work with Marco Bezzecchi as he makes his debut. Idalio Gavira will take on the role of track coach and tyre strategy manager. In Moto2, Roberto Locatelli will work as track coach, while Jairo Carriles will coordinate the work of Celestino Vietti Ramus&rsquo; team and Danilo Angeli will be crew chief for Niccol&ograve; Antonelli. Translated by Heather Watson Valentino Rossi and Mooney, a partnership that goes beyond the Bikes       

On 6 March, the team headed up by Valentino Rossi will make its official debut in MotoGP. Here&rsquo;s how the team will be organised, on and off track

Mooney VR46 Racing Team, the full line-up

        The 100km of Champions, back this year after being cancelled in 2020 due to Covid, was a resounding success. Forty-two riders took part in the latest edition at Valentino Rossi&rsquo;s Ranch in Tavullia. The Academy guys (with the exception of Bagnaia and Morbidelli) were joined by Lorenzo, McGrath, Rins, Arenas, Artigas and many other national and international riders who compete in the world championship, CIV and Superbike. As is tradition, this race rounds out the season, a real celebration among friends with spectators in the grandstands and Sky on hand to document the event (which will be broadcast in Italy around Christmas). As usual, the 100km ran over two days, with Saturday&rsquo;s Americana knock-out race won by Luca Marini ahead of brother Valentino and Celestino Vietti. But the main event, the Enduranch, played out on Sunday, with riders competing in pairs. Sunday&rsquo;s classic race was won by &lsquo;hosts&rsquo; Rossi and Marini, ahead of the Manzi-Bartolini pairing and Pasini-Baldassarri in third. It was another excuse for Valentino Rossi to celebrate after officially retiring from motorcycle racing. Prize-giving video  The final prize-giving ceremony and Enduranch closing party were filmed and shared on VR46 Academy social media channels.             Visualizza questo post su Instagram  Un post condiviso da VR46RidersAcademy (@vr46ridersacademyofficial)      Translated by Heather Watson Valentino Rossi in the Ferrari 488 GT3 at the Gulf 12 hours       

Sunday&rsquo;s Enduranch classic was won by the two brothers, after Luca beat Valentino in Saturday&rsquo;s Americana

100km of Champions: victory for Rossi and Marini

        Who doesn&rsquo;t dream of having their brother on the team? Particularly if the brother in question is one&nbsp;Valentino Rossi&hellip; Luca Marini has admitted as much during the WITHU Motorsport event in Erbezzo, in the province of Verona, where the Sky Racing Team riders are getting to grips with rally cars. Interviewed by Sky Sport, Marini was able to talk about his day with the sponsor and also discuss his famous brother, who he dreams of sharing a garage with next season. &ldquo;Valentino? It would be a dream to have him on the team with me&rdquo;  &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in for an interesting second part of the season. I&rsquo;ll try to improve and score more points than I did during the first part. It&rsquo;ll be more difficult because other riders have improved and will improve, as will their bikes&rdquo;, says Luca. As for the VR46 team, he adds: &ldquo;I need to speak with Uccio and the other VR guys because we want to be clear about next year. I think it&rsquo;s an ambitious project but one we need to lift high, scoring strong results, I won&rsquo;t settle for simply taking part. We need to do as we did in Moto2, or rather become a top team and try to fight for the podium and wins. I&rsquo;m sure we can do it in MotoGP too, and if I have a factory Ducati it would be even better, fantastic actually, because I get on well with everyone I&rsquo;ve had dealing with in Ducati. It&rsquo;s a great atmosphere and I think they too are pushing and investing to get back on top of the world&rdquo;. &ldquo;Valentino will race with me next year, that&rsquo;s the bombshell news&rdquo;, jokes Marini, before returning to the facts of the matter. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t talked to him a lot. It all depends on him, I hope he&rsquo;ll decide to do what he enjoys the most. He&rsquo;s ok with what he&rsquo;s achieved in the past, and is the best rider of all time in my opinion. But MotoGP without him is unthinkable and no one wants to see that. I only hope that he decides as to what is best for him. If he continues to race, I&rsquo;ll be over the moon and if he&rsquo;s on the team with me it would be a dream, but in the end it&rsquo;s him who has to decide&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP 2022, will Andrea Dovizioso be back?       

During the WITHU event in Erbezzo, the Ducati-Sky Racing Team VR46 rider talks of sharing the garage with his famous brother, as the Marquez brothers did last year

MotoGP, Rossi-Marini together: Luca dreams of having Valentino in the garage

        It's no secret that Valentino Rossi is not a great lover of social media, but during the nine-time champ&rsquo;s recent test at Misano, there was someone on hand to share images directly from the Marco Simoncelli track. Two people in fact, namely, brother Luca Marini and girlfriend Francesca Sofia Novello. The reason for the test  Together with Luca and his friend Uccio Salucci, Vale will take part in the Gulf 12 Hours, just as he did last year. Unlike 2019 though, the race will take place on 9 January in Bahrain rather than Abu Dhabi. And so with the MotoGP season now complete, the Misano track was the perfect place to test the Team Kessel Ferrari 488 GT3 with which they will compete. And while Vale kept quiet about the test, Francesca Sofia Novello was keen to post a few images as spectator, as was Luca Marini, who will take part in the race.             Visualizza questo post su Instagram  Un post condiviso da FRANCESCA SOFIA NOVELLO (@francescasofianovello)      &ldquo;A super day&rdquo;  The pair posted their pictures on Instagram yesterday. Luca put up some shots of himself at the wheel and of the Ferrari 488 GT3, writing that he&rsquo;d had &ldquo;a super day&rdquo; and thanking the team. As for Francesca Sofia Novello, her shots were taken trackside and in the garage, and there was even one of her with Rossi as they watched Marini drive. Valentino will compete in the Gulf 12 Hours instead of the Monza Rally, Franco Morbidelli set to take part in the Italian event. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t want to take part &ndash; said Vale &ndash; because we had a lot of fun last year. This is my plan in terms of four-wheel racing. We hope the Covid-19 situation improves a little before January 9 so that we can actually race&rdquo;.             Visualizza questo post su Instagram  Un post condiviso da Luca Marini (@luca_marini_97)      Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Rossi-Petronas: the final chapter in a long film       

The two brothers are preparing for the endurance race that will take place in Bahrain. While Valentino is yet to share any photos from the test, there is somebody who already has...

Gulf 12 Hours: Misano test for Rossi and Marini with the Ferrari 488 GT3

He is known to most as &ldquo;Valentino Rossi&rsquo;s brother&rdquo; but, in truth, Luca Marini has grown over the years, his results speaking for themselves. So much so that Ducati has come knocking, wanting him in MotoGP next year. Time will tell as to whether he moves up as Moto2 world champion or not.  The last race   The battle for the title in the intermediate class is still wide open heading into the final round, with Enea Bastianini leading ahead of a Sam Lowes who is not in the best shape and &ldquo;Maro&rdquo; himself, who has an 18-point deficit. More than a few, but not too many, particularly now that the 23-year old has found his way again.  Luca started the season in a particular &ldquo;state of grace&rdquo;, clocking up three wins, two second place finishes and two pole positions, which saw him take the championship lead.  &nbsp;  The crisis   His victory at Montmel&ograve; was then followed by a more difficult period, in which he appeared to lose confidence aboard the Kalex and score two consecutive zeros, at Le Mans (seventeenth) and Aragon (DNF) before scoring just 15 points over the next two races.&nbsp; At the latest Valencia GP, he picked up the pace to close inside the top five, and ahead of the &ldquo;Bestia&rdquo;. A positive sign, particularly ahead of the final round, where everything is at stake.  Moto2, who will win? The pros and cons of Sam Lowes  Blind date   The final race will take place at a track that is unknown to many. The championship will run here for the first time and every session will be essential in order to adapt to the undulating Portimao, where the riders are in for some blind turns. After all the efforts and sacrifices of this strange and difficult year, the Sky Racing Team VR46 rider will battle it out with his rivals as he attempts to add his name to the Moto2 history books.  Far from an easy task, but if Marini is able to bring the Luca we saw during the opening round, perhaps lifting the title trophy becomes a mission possible. This, before he goes on to achieve every rider&rsquo;s dream, or rather to race in MotoGP in the reigning class, which has double meaning for him in that he will also achieve his other great dream, to race with his brother, Valentino Rossi.  Translated by Heather Watson  Moto2, who will win? The pros and cons of Enea Bastianini 

This weekend, the man from Tavullia could become world champion of the Moto2 class before moving up to the reigning class. Can he make up the 18 points to Bastianini?

9 risultati per 'EN Luca Marini'