“Pressure” on Jack Miller as KTM contract warning is made

Jack Miller will “feel the pressure” with his KTM future in doubt, it has been claimed.

Miller lost the front of his KTM at the season-opening Qatar MotoGP last weekend, forcing him to rejoin at the back.

He finished 21st (last of the riders who completed the grand prix) and was 10th in the sprint.

To make Miller’s weekend worse, debutant Pedro Acosta shone in the Sunday race in his first premier class outing.

“The problem for Jack is that he will start to feel the pressure. He will feel it straight away,” Sylvain Guintoli said on TNT Sports.

“You’ve got Pedro Acosta who was on the money straight away.

“Everybody is talking about contracts now. This is the time where some riders have already been renewed - Pecco Bagnaia, Brad Binder…

“The second seat alongside Binder is up for grabs. Acosta will have his sights on it. There is a lot of pressure on Miller.

“In the sprint he decided to use the soft front - he was the only rider. That means he had doubts about the medium.

“For that race [on Sunday] he put the medium on, and crashed. So that won’t do his confidence any good either.”

Acosta, still 19, had an impressive first MotoGP race with Tech3 GASGAS, overtaking both Marquez brothers before tyre wear meant he finished ninth.

His emergence - and the hype around him - means that KTM might find themselves with one of the sport’s hottest talents in their hands.

While Binder is contracted to KTM longer-term, Miller and Augusto Fernandez’s deals will expire at the end of this season.

Acosta’s great start, coupled with Miller’s bad result in Qatar, has added a fresh layer of debate on the 2025 silly season.