Honda newcomer Luca Marini talks about his stature, which is anything but an advantage for riding a MotoGP bike
After two race weekends of the 2024 MotoGP season, Luca Marini is one of three riders still without a championship point. Marini knew that his move from VR46-Ducati to the Honda works team, which has been struggling for years, would not be an easy one. But that he would bring up the rear among the four Honda riders in the field?
In addition to the new bike for him, the Honda RC213V, and the new environment in the pits of the Japanese factory team, Marini has to deal with a familiar problem in his fourth MotoGP season: his height and weight.
With a height of 1.84 meters, Marini is the tallest rider in the current field of 22 MotoGP regulars. Honda teammate Joan Mir is only three centimeters shorter and, at 1.81 meters, the second tallest rider in the field.
And with a body weight of 69 kilograms, Marini is in the top 3 of the heaviest MotoGP riders in the current starting field. Only Takaaki Nakagami (70 kilograms) and Augusto Fernandez, who at 72 kilograms is the heaviest MotoGP rider in 2024, weigh more.
By comparison, the physically smallest rider in the current MotoGP grid is Jorge Martin at 1.67 meters. The rider who weighs the least is Marini’s former teammate Marco Bezzecchi at just 61 kilograms.
As far as Marini is concerned, he takes his stature, which is anything but advantageous for riding a MotoGP bike, with humor.
“I’ve already done everything I can to weigh less. Less than that is impossible for me,” says the Italian, referring to his 69 kilos and jokes: “Unless I cut off my leg. But I’d hate to do that, because I look very good in everyday life. I like being taller than the others.”
With regard to riding his factory Honda, Marini concludes: “I think we just have to find a basis that works for me. We just need more time to do that, but I think we’re on the right track.”
