Despite the "small technical problem" that affected Luca Marini's race in Qatar's MotoGP season-opener, in recent days there have been several events that suggest the Italian's adaptation to the Honda is proving more complicated than anticipated.
The stopwatch can't be influenced and doesn't lie. Marini's regression at Losail is unquestionable. Last November, in his penultimate race on a Ducati, he took pole position in Qatar with a time of 1m51.7s. Last Saturday, on his debut as an HRC rider at the same venue, Marini failed to progress beyond Q1. His time of 1m52.9s placed him second to last on the grid and was 1.2 seconds slower than the effort that put him at the front of the pack in 2023's penultimate round.
