Marini: "I order a lot of parts from Ducati, I'm worse than Lorenzo!"

Valentino Rossi’s brother has become, in his second season in the premier class, the spearhead of the ex-rider’s project endorsed with the start-up of his own team in MotoGP, the Mooney VR46 Racing Team , which this Saturday had the symbolic honor of leading the time sheet.

Luca Marini closed a fast lap with 21 minutes to go in the session, stopping the clock at 1.31.289, a time that no one else managed to beat.

“It has been a simply positive day, I think we have done a good job from the beginning. The feeling with the bike improves a lot as the laps go by and in the end I felt quite comfortable, even riding on used tyres”, explained the Italian rider, who enjoys a model identical to that of the official factory riders and those of Pramac.

“I think I have good potential with this bike, I also really like the layout of this track, there was a lot more grip today, it was easier for everyone, I could have more fun.”

Despite taking the fastest lap, Marini believes that the attack on time can be improved.

“I think we have to work a little more on the bike, try to improve the race pace by a few tenths and tomorrow we will do a simulation, but I am very happy with how today’s time went. I think that tomorrow if the weather is good we can go At 30 high, I don’t know if we’ll have time to test the time attack, but first we have to try new things, both electronics and settings,” he prioritized.

Despite the fact that points are not distributed in the tests, Marini wanted to highlight the result of this Saturday.

“For me this time is of great value even in a test, obviously there are no points at stake, but today I saw all the riders really wanting to do a time attack, we were all more or less in the same conditions and it was nice to be able to be first.

In that sense, he wanted to highlight the work of the team.

“I think the team is doing a great job and we are growing a lot together. We are going in a good direction, but we have to find a compromise between the rear brake and the engine brake. Like everyone else, I want to brake harder this year, because it will be much more difficult to overtake and the braking and corner entry, not so much the exit, will be essential to set the time,” he warned.

The differences between the 2022 and the 2021 bike that he was able to test in the Jerez test, compared to the 2020 that he rode last year, are not yet great for Marini, who believes that the true potential of the bike has not yet been seen.

“There is no particular difference, in general the 22 is better. I also felt it when I tried the 21 in Jerez. I think that Ducati has done a great job and I hope that when we find the potential of the 22 it will be even better, because at the moment They look almost the same bike, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”

With a height of more than six feet, for Marini the position on the bike is essential to be able to ride comfortably.

“I’m still working on the position on the bike. It’s incredible, I think I’m worse than Jorge Lorenzo! I ask for many things, Ducati may hate me,” he joked in reference to the Balearic rider, who changed the entire system during his time at Ducati to rest the legs on the tank, some changes that last over time.

“This year I feel much better on the bike, the 22 has a little more space and it’s fantastic. I hope that for Qatar we can do something more, because now to be more comfortable I lose a little on the straight. It’s not important here , but in Qatar it will be, so we thought of something to be more competitive in Losail and at the same time be comfortable”, settled Valentino’s brother.

Luca Marini, VR46 Racing Team