Jack Miller: KTM MotoGP bike "more temperature sensitive than in the past"

Jack Miller believes the 2024 KTM MotoGP bike is “more sensitive than in the past” to temperature changes following a tough British Grand Prix.

The Australian started the Silverstone weekend off strongly after a tough run of results prior to the summer break.

But following a solid run to seventh in the sprint, Miller battled grip issues from the off in the 20-lap grand prix and ended up a distant 12th, just under 10 seconds from the leading KTM of Pedro Acosta in ninth.

Asked by Crash.net if he felt the current KTM package was more sensitive to temperature changes, Miller responded: “I feel more sensitive than in the past, that’s for certain.

“But those boys are going extremely well. Fabio [Quartararo] came past me with two to go, and then that opened the door for Frankie [Morbidelli].

“I watched Frankie dispense of Fabio pretty quick.

“Just seeing the amount of grip he had back-end of the race was impressive.

“And then even seeing the times from the boys at the front, we need to work on being able to use the tyres better… or use the potential better.”

While admitting it’s an issue that KTM has to get on top of, Miller does also feel that the 2024-spec Michelin tyres are partly to blame.

“I think they are a little bit [more sensitive to temperature] for some more than others, maybe,” Miller added.

“It’s really a hard one to put your finger on. I can’t comment for anyone else, but I do find that they are so maybe more than in the past.”

Expanding on his issues in the British GP, Miller says his lack of grip was forcing him to be “patient” going through corners before applying the throttle.

“It’s just one of those things that didn’t feel like I had great edge from the beginning to the end,” he explained.

“I just had to really focus on being patient, waiting to get the thing up.

“I couldn’t use any of the edge from the get go. Every time I put it into Turn 3, third-last corner into the last chicane, I had to be super gentle on forcing the change of direction because I’d lose the grip pretty early on.”

Story quotes provided by Peter McLaren, Crash.net MotoGP Editor