Jack Miller delivers bullish verdict on KTM's "agile" carbon fibre chassis

Jack Miller heads to his home MotoGP at Phillip Island this weekend having made ‘big steps’ with KTM’s new carbon fibre chassis at the past two rounds.

Peter McLaren

17 Oct 2023

Jack Miller, MotoGP, Indonesian MotoGP, 15 October

After a strong start to his KTM career, including a double podium in Jerez, Miller went through some set-up wobbles as he experimented with the RC16.

But the introduction of the carbon fibre chassis made Miller more comfortable for Japan and Indonesia.

Miller featured in fourth during the middle stages of Sunday’s Mandalika race before losing out to the Ducatis of Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, then team-mate Brad Binder.

“Happy enough with the performance this weekend, we had a strong showing,” Miller said. “I made a couple of little mistakes in the race, cost us a little bit of time, but in general it was a good weekend.

“I had a strong pace towards the end, which is always a positive in these hot conditions. The bike was working well. All weekend we were able to show some decent speed, so I'm really happy with the outcome. We’ve got work to do but another solid weekend.

“It's nice to have two decent weekends in a row, both with Japan and then here. Now I’m looking forward to heading for the home Grand Prix and hopefully put on a strong showing in front of the Aussie fans.”

Jack Miller, Carbon frame, switch gear, Japanese MotoGP 30 September

Phillip Island will be a very different challenge to Mandalika, not least in terms of the temperature, but Miller is confident the RC16 will work well on the fast and flowing track.

“Definitely [excited],” he said of his home event. “We've made some big steps with the new chassis and our set-up in general. I'm really looking forward to heading to Australia obviously, and I think the KTM can work really, really well around the Island.

“The bike’s fantastic. It's nice and agile at high speed, which you kind of need around the Island and there's always some fairly decent grip there as well. So fingers crossed we can put on a decent challenge for the home fans.”

Miller, who finished third in front of his home fans as a Ducati rider in 2019, was taken out of last year’s Phillip Island race by Alex Marquez. He is currently ninth in the world championship, 9 points behind Luca Marini.