MARINI JOINS TECH3 KTM FOR 2027 AND 2028
Luca Marini will leave Honda at the end of this season and ride for Red Bull KTM Tech3 in 2027 and 2028. The Italian is the first rider the team has confirmed for the new era, and his arrival is part of a complete reshuffle of KTM’s four-rider grid.
The manufacturer confirmed earlier this year that Fabio Quartararo and David Alonso would join, lining up alongside Johann Zarco and Diogo Moreira, which left Marini looking for a home well before this announcement.
Marini was not originally on the team’s list at all. His agent made the first approach to Tech3 boss Guenther Steiner at the Italian Grand Prix, and a follow-up meeting with KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer in June convinced both sides to do the deal.
Under its ownership structure led by Steiner, Tech3 now negotiates and pays for its own riders from 2027, rather than taking whoever KTM places there. Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales were both on direct KTM contracts. The team still needs the manufacturer’s approval, since KTM supplies the bikes and the technical support, but the choice of rider is now Tech3’s to make. Steiner said the team had been watching Marini closely, and that with 2027 being “a big reset for MotoGP” it needed someone who could contribute to development.
Marini is 29, a member of the VR46 Riders Academy and Valentino Rossi’s half-brother. He entered the world championship in 2016, going straight into Moto2, where he won races and finished runner-up in the 2020 championship. He moved up to MotoGP in 2021 with Ducati’s satellite operation and stayed three seasons, taking both of his premier-class podiums in 2023 with second place in Austin and third in Qatar.
In 2024 he joined the factory Honda team as the replacement for Marc Marquez, who had gone the other way to Gresini Ducati. His best results in three Honda seasons are three fifth places.
Bastianini leaves for Trackhouse, confirmed a day before this announcement, and Vinales is not expected to be retained, which could leave the former Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia rider without a MotoGP seat at all. The second Tech3 place is expected to go to a rider coming up from Moto2, with Australian Senna Agius reported as the likely name, though that is not confirmed.
Above them, KTM’s factory team will also look completely different, with Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio already announced for 2027. That means all four KTM riders change at once, in the same year the bikes move to 850cc under the new regulations.
Share this content:
