There's no doubting that Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix was one to forget for the Mooney VR46 Racing Team. In Moto2™, poleman Celestino Vietti crashed out as the title hopes of the 20-year-old drifted yet further away before teammate Niccolo Antonelli also hit the deck just a few laps later. Rookie Marco Bezzecchi was unable to cash in on being promoted to the front row of the grid when the front end of his Ducati GP21 folded from beneath him at Turn 10 in the early stages.
Therefore, pressure lay on the shoulders of Luca Marini to keep The Doctor happy on home soil. And the Italian delivered with a stunning ride to fourth as he challenged for a debut MotoGP™ throughout the 27-lap encounter. Despite being 19th at the end of the opening day, the 25-year-old found a late lap in Q1 to secure a place in Q2 and used that as a springboard for Sunday's main event. Challenging both Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), he eventually had to settle for a career-best equalling fourth in front of the home faithful.
"I think that we started quite far away on Friday," started Marini on Sunday evening. "We recovered a little bit on Saturday and this morning the bike was good. David [Muñoz – Marini’s Crew Chief] made a very good change to my bike and my team worked really well. I think the feeling that we have in the garage is fantastic, so I want to say thanks to them because we are a very good crew and it's a pleasure working with them.
"About my pace, I'm really satisfied. I didn't expect to be so fast from the first lap until the end. Obviously, the first three had something more. When the tyres were good I could stay there, but lap by lap I felt a little bit of a drop so I needed to reduce my pace a little bit. Also, following other bikes is difficult because the temperature is very high and the pressure of the tyres go up, the temperature of the engine is rising every lap so it’s not easy.
"It was also difficult to overtake, so, in the end, I just tried to use the tyres well and wait for the last laps to see if Maverick suffered a drop so I could try to attack him and jump on the podium. But it was not like this. Anyway, I'm really satisfied with this weekend because we worked really well and I loved riding the bike. We just need to find everything a little bit earlier."
So what does Marini think the difference was between him and the podium finishers? Was their ability to conserve the rear tyre better down to bike setup, riding style or just experience: "All these things together. I don’t think it was anything in particular. I was really strong in braking, just losing a bit of time on the exit of Turn 6, Turn 8 and the last corner. Then in sector 3, every lap I gained a lot and I was really comfortable in the fast sector. I like when I can be fast in fast corners. On the other side, we were losing a bit in this in these three corners. I think that now we have a lot of data to try to analyse and try to make a step forward in the test. It’s a very good moment for us to have the test after such a good race.
"We can find the last few things that will help us fight for the podium in every race and also for victory. We don't have many things to try but we can do something. I didn't speak with my crew about what we’re going to try but for sure it’ll be something in general: on the front, on the rear, to make the bike turn a little bit more but also to keep the same confidence I have in braking."