RiderTua.com – In the second series of the 2024 season in Portugal, Luca Marini only finished last. However, a closer look at the data from the Portimao race confirms that there is an important small increase. Of course the whole area continues to develop, but the performance of the newcomers from the Repsol Honda team cannot be underestimated. If the Italian rider takes the same steps in every race, he can still compete to be the best rider at Honda in the first third of the season. After the Portuguese GP race, Maro explained, “Much better. Obviously we have taken a step forward.”
Luca Marini can still compete with other Honda riders in the first third of the season
After the second series of this season in Portugal the MotoGP class was divided into three levels of riders. At least if based on the results, in reality there are 6 top riders consisting of Jorge Martin, Maverick Vinales, Pecco Bagnaia, Pedro Acosta, Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. They were all able to achieve a lap time of 1:38 minutes in the race. And entered the riders in first class..
Enea Bastianini set the fastest lap of the race overall, although there was debate about reduced grip on the rear tire on lap 21 of 25. The first group of the Portuguese GP all achieved their best laps in the second half of the race.
Behind the first group earlier in Portimao, 15 riders competed for the best place in the 1:39 minute time compartment. At the finish line, Brad Binder was the best rider. The rider from South Africa was the 7th fastest with a time of 1:39.1 minutes. Because the 3 riders in the first row crashed in the last seconds, the KTM RC16 rider received a ‘grant’ of 4th place.
Johann Zarco had to occupy the last position in second grade. The LCR Honda rider couldn’t pass 1.39.9 minutes. Even though there were 3 crashes in the front row, the French rider still got 1 point but lost by 38 seconds.
Then there was Luca Marini who was in third class and the only rider in that class with a time of 1:40 minutes. In fact, with 1:40.1 minutes he was 1.48 seconds slower than Bastianini. Interestingly, at the end of practice, Marini’s fastest time difference was 1.46 seconds. The balance of power does not change over the race weekend.
The time structure has certainly changed and in a positive direction, compared to the season-opening race in Qatar. Marini lost almost 0.3 seconds to the fastest rider (Pedro Acosta) compared to Portimao. What looks like marginality is a relevant statement in the world of MotoGP in 2024. From last position, Rossi’s younger brother climbed to the edge of the compartment to jump to class 2. Because if the Honda rider finds another 0.3 seconds of confidence on the RC213V, then he will also shake up his Honda colleagues, Zarco and Taka Nakagami.
Pecco Bagnaia demonstrated how difficult the battle for positions of 0.1 and 0.001 seconds is for 22 riders. As the winner at the Qatar GP in terms of distance, the #1 rider only lost 1.5 seconds at Portimao, found himself struggling to finish 5th in the race and then found himself crashing into the gravel.. Either with a group of riders in first class or three, MotoGP is always interesting.
