Luca Marini: “We can fight for P7 or P8, but we have to solve this problem”

“It’s a matter of weight distribution”

Luca Marini, 2024 Australian MotoGP
Luca Marini, 2024 Australian MotoGP

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Luca Marini followed up his top Honda qualifying performance (13th) and best Sprint race finish of the season (10th) with 14th place in Sunday’s Australian MotoGP.

The Italian set t💎he fastest race lap by a Honda rider (+0.646s) on the penultimate lap of the grand prix, a qui💖rk matched by Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati).

Marini’s Repsol team-mate Joan Mir and LCR’s T♛akaaki Nakagami set their best race laps on 21 of 27, with Johann Zarco also comparatively late on 𓃲lap 18.

While Bastianini and to a lesser extent di Giannantonio have renowned꧑ tyre-saving skills, the performance delay for the Honda riders 🐽underlined difficulties generating heat in the rear tyre when using ‘harder’ compounds.

“It c💖ost us so many laps to put temperature on the edge of the harder compound [left side] of the [soft rear] tyre,” said Marini, who also lostꦅ ground at the start when he had to avoid a spinning Marc Marquez.

“For this, we are not able to fight with the others, especially against KTM anཧd Aprilia.

“We are slow at the beginning. But then after six𓆏 laps, when the rear tyre is ready, the pace started to be super competitive and I could enjoy a lot.

“The🔥 feeling🍨 with the bike was one of the best of the season.

“So we have to try to unders🔯tand how to make the rear ty🐲re work better. This is the same problem.”

Luca Marini, 2024 Australian MotoGP
Luca Marini, 2024 Australian MotoGP

“It’s a matter of weight distribution”

A🌃lthough yet to break into the grand prix top ten on the RC213V, Marini is encourag🍎ed by the progress made so far this season.

His on👍ly point duri🔴ng the opening 13 rounds came after post-race tyre pressure penalties in Germany, but Marini has since scored in three of the last four rounds (being taken out in Indonesia).

“We already solved many ꦓproblems,” he said. “Now the bike is much better than last year and the beginning of the season.

“But still when the [tyre] compound is so hard, it's di♕fficult for us.”

The 27-year-old says the are♓a to work on is clear.

“For sure, it’🤡s a matter of weight distribution in the bike,” he explained. “We have so much weight in t🌱he front because in the past the [successful] bikes were like this.

“Especially with the Bridgestone tyres, [Honda was] always winning with this traditional way to build tℱhe bike for the Japanese.

“Forꦏ the rider, it is also fantastic to have this ꧂kind of feeling with the front tyre.

"But🍒 the problem is that the rear is the best part of the Michelin tyres and we are not able to use all the potential of the rear tyre.

“For sure, the target for next year will be to try to change a little bit the weig🌌ht distribution and to load more the rear tyre, like the other bikes do.”

While Ducati is renowned for its rear grip, Marini thinks another manufacturer is even better at pu𒈔tting heat quickly into the rear rubber.

“I think we have to look at KTM especiall🐻y because they are the master of this,” he said.

“Already in lap one maybe sometimes they push even too much on the ꧅rear tyre.

“So maybe they꧂ are on the opposite side, but we have to 🌄work, try to analyse them and try to find a way to improve this situation.

“Because, in my opini💦on, if we are able to solve it, 💎we can fight for P7 or P8 at the moment. 

"But we have to find a so꧒lution for this problem.”

Marini finish🔜ed 24 seconds from victory on Sunday and nine seconds behind a multi-rider fight for sixth-to-eighth places.

Zarco was the leading Honda rider in 12th, fi🐻ve-seconds behind that battle and four seconds ahead of Marini.

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