Luca Marini says Honda needs more early speed to improve qualifying at MotoGP

Luca Marini says Honda’s 2026 progress is being built on race-day consistency, but he believes the team still needs more speed earlier in the weekend—especially to improve qualifying.

The Italian has shown strong steadiness across the season so far, converting that into nine top-10 finishes from 12 Sunday races. After a ninth-place result at Silverstone in early August, Marini sits 10th in the championship standings with 86 points, and is currently the leading Honda rider in the table.

Speaking ahead of the Aragon Grand Prix, Marini credited both his own weekend work and the effort from the team to keep improving up to Sunday. “I’m satisfied with the consistency we’ve been able to show every weekend, and with the work the team has done to keep improving further before the race on Sunday,” he said.

However, Marini identified a clear area to target: pace during practice sessions and, in particular, qualifying. “Our consistency has been very good, but we need to work on finding a bit more speed earlier in the weekend, to make it easier for us on Saturday and Sunday afternoon,” he explained. He added that the underlying potential is there to close the gap to the front: “If you look at our speed, we have the potential to get closer to the top riders, but we have to fight too much at the beginning.”

Aragon also carries context for Marini’s recent history. In 2025 he missed the event due to injury: after a serious crash during test riding for the Suzuka 8 Hours, he suffered a dislocated left hip, ligament injuries in the left knee, fractures to the breastbone and left collarbone, and a right-sided pneumothorax. He recovered quickly enough to return on the Sachsenring in early July.

“Last year I missed Aragon because of an injury, so I expect a clear improvement compared to 2024,” Marini said. Two years earlier, he finished 17th—outside the points.