It’s now official: Luca Marini is departing from the Mooney VR46 Racing Team after the Valencia GP, which concludes this weekend, closing the MotoGP World Championship season.
Valentino Rossi’s team made the formal announcement this morning. The rider had renewed for 2024 a few months ago, but he’s now heading towards the unexpected opening at Repsol Honda following Marc Márquez’s departure. For Marini, it marks the end of a journey with his brother Valentino Rossi’s team, a journey that began in 2018 in Moto2 and concludes now after achieving podium finishes in MotoGP.
In a press release, team director Alessio Salucci stated: ‘I have really seen Luca grow, since he was a child, then from a motorsport point of view I had the pleasure of seeing him become one of the strongest riders in MotoGP. I’m happy to have shared six beautiful seasons with him in this project. From the first satisfactions in Moto2, the second place in the Championship in 2020, then the debut in MotoGP, the birth of our Team in the Top class and a 2023 where he managed to be a real protagonist. Luca is a professional with few equals, a technician, a true passionate enthusiast before being a rider and then a great worker. It is a pity to let him go, he will be a really tough opponent in the future, but an opportunity of this type is too much important not to be considered and I sincerely I wish him, together with the whole Team, the very best of luck’.