HRC rider Luca Marini feels Ducati is “destroying the championship” with its current dominance - but Honda has the potential to be second-best to it in MotoGP.
In 2024 Ducati has been victorious in all but one Sunday race, while Honda’s downward trend has continued as it struggled to even break inside the top 10 with the troublesome RC213V.
There has been some progress in recent months on the back of a positive in-season test in Misano, with LCR rider Johann Zarco guiding the marque to a season-best eighth in the Thailand Grand Prix.
However, its gains have been dwarfed by those of fellow Japanese manufacturer Yamaha, which recorded a season-best sixth-place finish in Malaysia last time out.
Factory Honda rider Marini witnessed the speed of the all-conquering Ducati at Sepang when both Franco Morbidelli and Marc Marquez were able to breeze past him after remounting on their crashed Desmosedici bikes.
But the Italian has reason to believe that Honda, which is bottom of the championship, can pull itself out of the current slum - stressing how the issues faced by other manufacturers have opened the door for HRC to come through.
“Franco and Marc crashed [ahead of me],” he said. “But then every time a Ducati crashes and restarts, you know they are going to pass you again because they are super fast.
“When they come we are just struggling with everything and they overtake you on the straight ‘like this’, no problem. They are on another planet at the moment.
“We have to try to improve our level but also find a way to take out something from them because they are completely destroying the championship so we have to invent something. We will try.
“Because now Yamaha has made a good step. Here, they have had a fantastic weekend. It is important that we have a rush to come back and improve our performance as soon as possible because it is possible now.
“The other manufacturers are struggling and if we are smart and clever, more clever than the others, we can be the second power in the championship - if we are making the correct moves next year.”
Marini isn’t the only rider who reckons Honda has what it takes to return to near the front of the grid in MotoGP.
Factory Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro, who will bolster Honda’s European test team next year after retiring from active racing duties, thinks it can achieve a first victory since Marc Marquez’s triumph in the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in the next two years.
Espargaro told Spanish newspaper AS: "When I announced my retirement, I was lucky enough to be able to choose where I would go. Honda is undoubtedly the factory with the most potential in the championship and the one that is in the worst shape at the moment.
"But remember this interview, because Honda will win a grand prix again in less than 24 months.”
