Jack Miller

Jack Miller takes on his fourth different brand of MotoGP machine in 2025 by returning to Pramac for the start of their new factory-backed Yamaha project.

Jack Miller - Route to MotoGP

Born in Townsville, Australia, on 18th January 1995, Miller made the first steps of his racing career in motocross, collecting six Australian titles before switching to road racing in 2009. Moving to Europe to compete in the German 125cc championship, Miller won his first IDM title in 2011, aged just 16. Following his success in Germany, the Australian made his World Championship debut the same year, racing six Grands Prix in the 125cc class.

In 2012, Miller took part in the entire Moto3 World Championship, racing with the Caretta Technology Team with whom he also contested the 2013 Championship, becoming one of the protagonists at the end of the season.

Signed by the renowned Red Bull KTM Ajo team for 2014, Miller became one of the main title contenders. After a hard-fought season, which saw him taking ten podiums (including six wins) and eight pole positions, the Australian rider finally ended the year as championship runner up, just two points behind Alex Márquez.

Jack Miller in MotoGP

LCR Honda (2015)

After losing out on the 2014 Moto3 crown to Alex Marquez at the very final round, Miller was propelled straight to MotoGP on a three-year deal with HRC, starting with an Open specification Honda at the LCR team.

Plenty of observers felt Miller should not have skipped Moto2, and some rivals were unhappy with his moves in the early races, but - with the exception of a collision with team-mate Cal Crutchlow in the wet Silverstone race - Miller improved in-line with his growing experience.

The end result was very much ‘job done’, with Miller finishing top of the four open Honda riders.

Marc VDS Honda (2016 - 2017)

Moving from LCR to Marc VDS for 2016, Miller became the first of three new MotoGP race winners during the season, and the most surprising of the nine different winners, by storming to the first premier-class victory by a satellite rider since 2006 at a wet Assen.

Miller's 2016 preparations had been rocked by a broken leg in a motocross training incident. A big Austin highside then left him with additional foot injuries, while his RC213V was hobbled by early issues adapting to the new single ECU software. All of which meant the exuberant Aussie had scored just seven points prior to his historic ride in Holland.

But just as he was returning to full fitness, Miller's season was again interrupted by injuries, in Austria, ultimately forcing him out of four more rounds.

A proven threat whenever conditions were tricky (his best three results were on a wet or drying track) Miller struggled for front-end feel in the dry - but felt immediately comfortable after being given a revised chassis, as used by Cal Crutchlow… once the season had ended.

2017 saw Miller remain at Marc VDS and, although unable to repeat his Assen 2016 heroics, took two sixth-places and continued his championship progression with a best yet eleventh overall.

But having reached the end of his initial three-year HRC contract, negotiations over a renewal for 2018 broke down. Honda seemed lukewarm about keeping Miller and wanted him to do his own deal with Marc VDS rather than remain as a factory-contracted rider. 

While Marc VDS were keen to keep the Australian, the lack of enthusiasm from Honda meant Miller instead signed with the Ducati factory to race for the Pramac team in 2018.

Pramac Ducati (2018 - 2020)

Honda were perhaps soon regretting their lack of interest in retaining Miller as he made a near instant impression on the Desmosedici, taking his first MotoGP pole position at round two in Argentina, where he went on to finish fourth in the race. Another fourth place followed at Le Mans, but although Miller scored his most points in a season so far, he slipped to 13th overall.

2019 saw Miller upgraded from year-old Ducati machinery to the latest GP19 specification. The result was five podiums and eighth in the world championship.

That form meant Miller was signed to the factory Ducati team for 2021, before the Covid-delayed 2020 season had even started.

Aiming for Pramac Ducati's first MotoGP win during his final year at the satellite squad, Miller was runner-up on no less than three occasions, losing out on victory by 0.316s (to Miguel Oliveira) in a three-way final turn showdown in Styria and just 0.093s (to Franco Morbidelli) in Valencia!

Ducati Team (2021 - 2022)

Miller's 2021 season was one of the hardest to evaluate, a case of glass half full or half empty.

On one hand, when Miller originally signed for the factory Ducati team it was as Danilo Petrucci's replacement. On that basis, Miller's two wins (his first in the dry) and a career-best fourth in the world championship exceeded what Petrucci achieved as a clear number two to Andrea Dovizioso in 2019 and 2020.

But when contract talks broke down between Dovizioso and Ducati for 2021, Miller was effectively elevated to team leader with his far less experienced Pramac team-mate Francesco Bagnaia (one podium in two MotoGP seasons) brought in to fill the Dovizioso void.

And it is when judged against Bagnaia's performances - four wins, nine podiums, six poles and title runner-up to Fabio Quartararo - that Miller's 2021 season looked less impressive. Suffering four DNFs, the popular Australian also came within eight points of losing out to Pramac Ducati's Johann Zarco in the final standings.

Miller's hopes of starting strongly in Qatar 2022 were ruined by a technical DNF, while surprise handling problems with the latest Desmosedici engine were blighting the early challenge of all the GP22 riders.

It was Miller, not Bagnaia, who took the team's first podium of the season, at round four, but COTA was also the scene of Enea Bastianini's second win of the year, fueling growing rumours he was now in a fight with Martin to replace Miller for 2023.

Miller, already sick of single-year Ducati deals, took the hint and looked elsewhere. KTM had made a bid for Miller in the past, knew him well from Moto3, and didn't have to go far to talk to his personal manager, a certain Aki Ajo...

On track, a mistake while fighting for a podium in Portimao (round 5) cost Miller yet more valuable points, before his season hit rock bottom with successive 15th and 14th places at Mugello and Catalunya. That prompted a radical set-up overhaul at the Barcelona post-race test, after which Miller was an almost constant podium contender for the remainder of the season.

The highlight of his final Ducati campaign came with a dominant victory at Motegi in Japan, before his slim title chances officially ended when he was taken out by Alex Marquez at his home Phillip Island race.

Nonetheless, Miller's efforts on his way to fifth in the standings also helped Ducati clinch a perfect sweep of the riders', teams' and constructors' titles.

Bagnaia regularly heaped praise on his departing team-mate, including for a pep talk he had received from Miller prior to the high-pressure wet Buriram race.

Miller will now seek to do something even Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi failed to achieve; MotoGP victories on three different brands of bike. 

Red Bull KTM (2023-2024)

After a spell of success with Ducati, Miller's move to KTM saw his line-up alongside Brad Binder, which he will do again in 2024.

A solid first season with the Austrian brand, Miller claimed his only grand prix podium at Jerez, although the Australian did achieve another third-place finish on two occasions during sprint races at Jerez and Sachsenring. 

Miller began 2024 knowing that his seat was under threat from rookie star Pedro Acosta, who was soon carrying KTM's hopes with multiple podiums.

Miller, who took his joint best result of the season with fifth in round two at Portimao, was prepared to swap places with Acosta and move to Tech3 for 2025.  But KTM instead announced the dual signing of Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales for the French team.

“The last I heard was, ‘Don't bother talking to anybody, we want to keep you in the [KTM] family’. And then you get a phone call saying you're not getting a contract. So I was surprised, to say the least," Miller admitted.

With new parts focussed on Acosta and Miller's team-mate Brad Binder, the Australian was also left to battle chatter issues for much of the season.

“That’s been my life for the last ten months. We haven’t been able to solve it," he said of a video clip showing his RC16 shaking violently at Motegi.

The 28-year-old was rarely able to break into the top ten and openly feared for his MotoGP future before being called up by his former Pramac team to join Miguel Oliveira in their new Yamaha project.

Miller suffered a major scare at the penultimate Sepang round when he was knocked down in the opening turns, became tangled in the rear wheel of Fabio Quartararo's M1 and was run over by Joan Mir. But miraculously emerged largely unscathed.

“I feel lucky to walk away from that one, seeing some of the images,” Miller said.

Miller had matched his season-best fifth in the Buriram rain the weekend before and concluded his KTM career with 14th in the standings.