Jack Miller responds to rumours that he will lose 2025 KTM seat
"If I could put those contract negotiations on hold, I’d love to"
Jack Miller has spoken out about the rider market amid rumours that his days are numbered at KTM.
His teammate Brad Binder is contracted long-term with KTM, but Miller’s deal (like many on the MotoGP grid) will expire this year.
The emergence of the stunning Pedro Acosta for KTM’s satellite team Tech3 GASGAS has ramped up the rumours that Miller will be axed, in favour of the talented young Spaniard.
Miller said ahead of this weekend’s Catalunya MotoGP: “Obviously if I could put those contract negotiations on hold, I’d love to, and put some decent results on the board to help my chances.
“But we can’t. There is chatter going on.
“I am focused on doing the best I can, get decent results, put points on the board.
“And let the powers that be do the negotiating.
“All I can do is what I’ve been doing, working hard through the week to get this ball rolling, which has been stubborn.”
Miller has been linked with a switch to Honda - who he entered the premier class with in 2015 - if he loses his KTM to Acosta.
But the Australian could also remain with his current manufacturer and effectively swap places with Acosta to wear Tech3 GASGAS colours next year.
Miller has endured a frustrating start to his second season with KTM.
A good weekend in Portugal has been the highlight but he has failed to finish each of the past two grands prix, and he sits 13th in the MotoGP standings.
“Only really having the two P5s in Portimao is not what I was aiming for, by this part of the season,” he said before this weekend’s Barcelona round.
“These are the cards we were dealt. We just keep rolling with the punches.”
He added: “Fingers crossed we can find our feet.
“We had decent speed all weekend [in Le Mans] but, in the sprint and the main race, we weren’t able to keep the bike in the window.
“The biggest thing for me is understanding how we can make the grip window bigger.
“When we’ve got grip, the bike works well. As soon as I get out of that window, I suffer more and lap time is harder to come by.
“Here it is considerably low on grip. We found big steps last year on the Sunday. Looking back at the data, what we learned last year, we’ve got a rough ball-park of where we need to be, in terms of set-up.
“We use the rear end of the bike to stop the bike. When I suffer with grip, I struggle to stop the bike. I can’t use the strong braking point.”
Miller was asked if his KTM might suffer from chattering if it has low grip, and he said: “It depends. In Jerez, when the grip came up, it was high on Sunday compared to Saturday, it seemed to rear its head…
“It will be interesting to see here how the new rear tyre casing gets on with a traditionally very hard rear tyre track.”
