Miller on triple attempt: ‘We’ll give it a crack’, ‘first quarter crucial’
Jack Miller’s KTM move sets up the possibility of the Australian making history as the first rider to win ‘MotoGP’ races on three different brands of bike.
As previously reported, only four riders have achieved the feat in the 70-year history of the premier-class.
But the most recent of them was Loris Capirossi in 2003 and no rider has done it on three different bikes during the ‘MotoGP’ era, which began in 2002.
Official MotoGP Legends Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo are the most famous names to have fallen short of the triple.
Rossi won for Honda and Yamaha but was unable to do so at Ducati, while Lorenzo won with Yamaha and Ducati only to be left empty handed at Honda.
Maverick Vinales, a MotoGP winner at Suzuki and Yamaha, moved into contention by joining Aprilia in late 2021 and came within 0.4s of victory at Silverstone last year.
But the Spaniard now faces competition from Miller, who snatched his first MotoGP victory with a shock wet weather win for Marc VDS Honda at Assen 2016 followed by three more wins for Ducati during 2021-2022.
“It’s an amazing thing to be considered for,” Miller said of the triple chance. “I’m excited. I really hope we can. We’ll be pushing week in, week out to make this succeed but MotoGP nowadays is no joke.
“We’ve done two of the three [wins on different bikes]. Now we’re stepping on the third, so we’ll give it a crack.”
Jack Miller (Philip Platzer)
Miller: ‘First quarter is going to be crucial’
Miller is seeking to become the third person to take MotoGP wins for KTM alongside new team-mate Brad Binder (2) and the rider he has replaced, Miguel Oliveira (5).
But the 28-year-old knows switching machines is no easy task, having previously warned it can take two seasons to fully adapt to a new bike and team.
Miller also cited the example of Vinales, who won seven races for Yamaha but took 16 races to reach the podium at Aprilia and is still seeking an RS-GP win.
“For sure it’s not easy - switching manufacturers, bikes, riding styles all factor into it,” he said.
“It’s never easy when you’re stuck in your ways and habits you learned on another motorcycle. You have to get rid of them or adapt.
“We [that] saw last year with Maverick and the Aprilia. I’m sure we’ll see a bigger improvement for him.
“[But] I don’t want to look at other people’s results and base my adaptation off that. I’m just here to do the best I can.
"In a perfect world, if we could gel in the first tests then we’d be there in Portimao [round one]. But that’s a perfect world.
“We have a couple of tests before then so the biggest thing is to stay fit and healthy, do as much on the bike to make it second nature as possible and understand what it needs.
“This first quarter is going to be the most crucial part of the year, just understanding the bike and what we need to do with the bike.”
Miller, 17th (+0.8s) on his KTM debut at November's Valencia test, will kick off his 2023 preparations at the Official Sepang test from February 10-12.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
