Miller: Malaysia a “head scratcher”

Jack Miller has described his eighth place at the 2023 Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix as a “head scratcher”.

P8 was the result from an encouraging weekend for Miller, who took a step forward in the KTM but was left wanting more at Sepang where the Ducatis once again dominated.

The weekend started brilliantly with the #43 showing top three pace on Friday but could not unlock that same speed in qualifying and had to start 10th.

In the Sprint Miller moved forward to sixth, while he also enjoyed a great start in the Grand Prix, charging from 10th to sixth on the opening lap alone.

But once again as the race went on, Miller lost some ground and eventually took the chequered flag eighth, a big step forward from Thailand.

Reflecting on the race, Miller could not quite put his finger on why he could not keep up with his rivals without “anything silly” happening.

“Eighth in Malaysia – if it feels like I always finish eighth here it’s because I nearly always do, that’s five times in the last six races here!” Miller said.

“The race was a bit of a head-scratcher because it wasn’t one where I nearly ran off, did anything silly, nothing like that. 

“Eighth was just our pace, that was where we were compared to the Ducatis, at least the three guys on Ducatis up the front anyway.

“I suspected after the Sprint that we’d have a bit more for those boys at the front on Sunday, but they could pretty much run Sprint race pace the whole Grand Prix race while we’re ending up nearly a second a lap off.”

Miller continued by revealing he lost front end grip towards the back end of the race which is why struggled to keep the Yamahas behind.

“I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong and rode pretty solid, the pace was half-decent,” he said. 

“I had (Ducati’s Marco) Bezzecchi in front of me and was eyeing up a move on him, but couldn’t get close enough to even attempt anything so I was kind of stuck at that pace. 

“As the race wore on I got the front-end too hot and dropped off him, and at the end of the race the Yamahas came past, I tried to do what I could to keep them at bay but they had plenty of grip towards the end and I wasn’t able to fight.”

Despite being disappointed with the result, Miller said it was a step forward he and KTM needed to take after the “disaster” of Thailand.

It helped him maintain a top 10 position in the championship with Alex Marquez closing in, while the familiarity of riding at a test track was a big boost to start the weekend strong.

“It’s a bit further back than we wanted, but a solid weekend after Thailand for me, which is what I needed as that one was a bit of a disaster really,” Miller said. 

“The steps that we made on the bike and the feeling I had with the bike was good.

Being back here in Malaysia was good for me as it’s the first repeat track for me on the KTM. Because we’d tested here before the season, and I always enjoy it.

“We’ll keep working, and I’ll try to get better as well with set-up and maximise what we can for these last two in Qatar and Valencia.”

The penultimate round of the 2023 MotoGP season is at Qatar this weekend.

Image: Gold and Goose

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