Jack Miller “devastated” by Le Mans MotoGP crash, “10 seconds ahead of Zarco”

Jack Miller was left devastated when he crashed out of the French MotoGP just as the weather conditions were turning in his favour.

Trusting the weather radar, Miller doubled down on the decision to run wet tyres for the restart, despite 13 riders pulling in at the end of the sighting lap for slicks.

Initially, they seemed to have made the right call - until rain intensified.

From 13th on lap 3, Miller began slicing through the field.

Some ten seconds behind, the next best wet-tyre rider was a certain Johann Zarco, who would go on to take a fairytale home victory.

Jack Miller robbed by unlucky fall at French MotoGP

But Miller’s downfall came at the final corner on lap 6, the same turn that had claimed Fabio Quartararo a few laps earlier.

While the Frenchman lowsided on slicks, a “devastated” Miller was pitched into a highside.

“This one is tough to digest. We had the right strategy, I gambled, trusted the forecast and I was right,” he said.

“Staying out there at the beginning was tough, all the bikes on slicks were coming by, but I knew there was going to be a crossover where I could have started to recover. I was trying to nurse it and do all the right things.

“It hurts, because I don‘t understand what went on. It had started to rain a little more, like I was hoping, came to the last corner, did the same thing as the laps before but I lost it, had an highside and that was it.

“Don‘t know if it was because of bumps or different patches of asphalt, but it was the same for everybody so I can’t complain about that.

“It’s just a strange one, especially when it stepped out and kind of flipped me over the front.

“But I am devasted because we had done everything right. I am gutted for the team, also considering that Johann at that time was behind me.”

Pramac: "It hurts", Jack Miller ahead of Johann Zarco

Team manager Gino Borsoi confirmed: “Of course, it hurts to think that when Jack crashed, he was 10 seconds ahead of Zarco, and we all know how that ended.”

Zarco picked the soft wet rear tyre, while Miller was on the medium, which should have been the better choice given the dryer early laps.

“I went with the medium option and even then I was trying to nurse it in the drier conditions at the beginning of the race, just to try not to smoke the wet tyre and lose all the tread,” Miller said.

“The more it got wet the more I suffered with edge grip on the rear. She was floating a bit but I was able to ride relatively comfortable for the majority of the track… Up until that point.”

Despite qualifying a competitive eighth, Le Mans was Miller’s third non-scoring event in a row, having been pushed out of the points by an aggressive pass from Enea Bastianini in the sprint.

“Speed and pace was good, the bikes working well. Just need to put some points in the bank,” he said.

Team-mate Miguel Oliveira also crashed at the same final corner, later in the race.