Luca Marini, the half-brother of Valentino Rossi, will replace Marc Marquez on the Honda MotoGP team next season, the Japanese manufacturer announced Monday.
“Honda Racing Corporation are pleased to announce the signing of Luca Marini for the 2024 and 2025 MotoGP World Championship seasons,” Honda said in a statement.
Italian Marini, 26, has been racing for Rossi’s VR46 Ducati team since 2021. He was runner-up in the Moto2 championship in 2020.
He will partner with Spaniard Joan Mir, the 2020 MotoGP champion with Suzuki, at the Repsol Honda team.
Marquez, a six-time MotoGP world champion, has joined his brother Alex at Ducati satellite team Gresini Racing.
Nine-time world champion Rossi won three of his seven titles in the top category with Honda from 2001 to 2003. It was announced Monday that Rossi will do a full season with BMW in the new LMGT3 category of the FIA world endurance championship, including competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time.
The LMGT3 category replaces the LMGTE class that has been on the grid since 2012.