Luca Marini talks about the Misano weekend, between the excellent 4th place finish and the absence of his brother Valentino Rossi after almost three decades.
In a weekend under the banner of Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, the fourth place of Luca Marini has faded into the background. In Misano the Mooney VR46 team rider, who started from the third row, never lost the trail of the leading group, remaining firmly glued to Maverick Vinales and defending himself without too many problems from the attacks of Fabio Quartararo who was chasing desperately looking for world championship points.
In the San Marino GP, on the circuit where he usually trains with friends of the Academy, he achieved another solid performance that allowed him to equal his best MotoGP finish reached two weeks earlier at the Red Bull Ring. The second part of the World Championship starts immediately under a lucky star for Valentino Rossi’s brother, whose seasonal goal remains the first podium in the premier class, a feat that his box mate has already achieved Marco Bezzecchi in the Netherlands.
MotoGP without Valentino Rossi
Luca Marini is in 12th place in the general classification with 82 points, in Misano he played a not exactly secondary role, keeping behind the championship leader Fabio Quartararo, so as to do a nice favor to brand mate Pecco Bagnaia. This time the assault on the top 3 was missed, but the appointment is only postponed: “We were perhaps a tenth of the pace to be able to fight for the podium. The first three had something more, more experience, but we were there too. Let’s keep working, we will use the tests on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete this season in the best possible way“.
It was his first time in Misano without his brother Valentino Rossi on the track, busy at Hockenheim for the third to last round of the Fanatec GT WCE championship. The nine-time champion was not even in the pits, his absence was felt above all in the stands in the days before Sunday’s race. “Its absence is felt a lot and it is heavy – Luca Marini told Corsedimoto.com -. I hope that all Italian and world fans will be able to find new heroes, new idols to be inspired by, because we need them.“.
In a championship MotoGP formed by young talents, a charismatic character, capable of attracting the masses, is still missing. “At Mugello it went much worse“, Added Luca Marini in the debriefing on Sunday evening. “It is still the beginning of a new era for Italian drivers. Vale has been thrilling fans for many years, then MotoGP was still on free TV. So he was able to reach a lot more people. Now it’s just a matter of time… The show is good, we just have to wait until it reaches the hearts of all the fans. In a few years all the stands will be full … We are still young, we need time “.
