Luca Marini
Luca Marini Biography
Brother of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, Luca Marini had the eyes of the world watching when he made his grand prix debut as a wild-card in the Moto3 class at his home Misano round in 2013.
Unfortunately for Marini, who shares the same mother as Rossi, his race ended with an accident at the very first turn.
Two years later Marini again lined up at Misano as a wild-card, this time in the Moto2 class, reaching the finish in 21st place.
Signing with the Forward team for a full 2016 campaign, Marini finally began to show his talent with a sixth place in Germany, raising his best result to fourth the following year.
But the real breakthrough came with a move to the VR46 team in 2018, where a run of three mid-season podiums was followed by a first grand prix win at Sepang, in a season that saw team-mate Francesco Bagnaia clinch the title.
Marini took over as team leader in 2019, alongide rookie Nicolo Bulega. Two more victories followed but Marini only improved one place to sixth in the standings.
A grand prix championship challenge was delivered in 2020 with three wins during the first half of the season. His form later tailed off but he remained in the title fight, alongside Enea Bastianini and Sam Lowes, heading to the Portimao decider. Second place in Portimao also gave Marini second in the world championship.
Marini then moved to MotoGP with Bastianini as team-mates at Avintia Ducati, although Marini's side of the garage was run by VR46, a precursor to the team taking over the full entry for 2022.
While Marini wasn't able to match Bastianini's podium heroics on the two-year-old GP19, he did claim a front row start at Misano and best finish of fifth place after a chaoric late rain storm in Austria.
Marini was upgraded to the latest Ducati GP22 machinery at the new Mooney VR46 Racing team in 2022, where he was be joined by rookie Marco Bezzecchi.
Marini spent the early rounds searching for a set-up with the all-new bike, before upping his pace from Le Mans. But while Bezzecchi took a maiden podium, Marini had to settle for a pair of fourth places, plus two front row starts, on his way to twelfth in the world championship.
The #10 will be downgraded to year-old machinery for 2023, meaning he will stay on the GP22 and aim to capitalise on familiarity with the bike.
