Luca Marini says he has a “great weekend” at the American Grand Prix, but feels that the rear vibration issues that hold the Honda down with the MotoGP are persisting.
The progress Honda made during the winter break was revealed again on the American circuit on Saturday as Marini qualified in the top 10 and finished in eighth place against Pedro Acosta and Ai Ogra in the sprint.
Marini had already scored appropriate points in the main races in Thailand and Argentina, but this marked his first top nine results in the 2025 sprint race.
With the opportunity to directly compare his RC213V with the KTM RC16 and Aprilia RS-GP, the Italians were supported by how Honda was playing on the Austin circuit, which resurfaced.
However, he explained that Japanese manufacturers have yet to find a fix for the chattering problem that plagued last year’s performance.
“A great weekend up until now. I’ve done a great job here,” he told the official MotoGP website.
“I’ve improved my bike a little compared to Argentina. My feelings here are very good. I can ride the bike very well and push the limits.
“I made a very good lap this morning in qualifying, and in the race, the pace wasn’t too bad, but I think it would be better.
“We had vibrations during the usual sprint race. When the rear tires went down, we started this kind of vibration that in my opinion could not achieve a better position.
“The chances are even higher, but you still lose a lot of time while rapping, so you need to understand this and how to solve this.”
Marini’s teammate and 2020 MotoGP champion Joanne Mir may have helped Honda secure a double point finish in the Texas half-distance race, but after finishing eighth on the grid he crashed on lap 5.
Mir discovered that the RC213 lacked pace when running in the pack early in the Americas GP Sprint.
“To be honest, my pace is in the top four by myself,” he explained. “But during the race we need to deal with a lot of bikes that are probably a little more powerful than ours.
“It’s our weakness at the moment and it’s not easy to handle. It’s not easy to handle tomorrow.
“I’ll try to do everything I can and be a little more careful about my mistakes and try to bring back some points.”