Jack Miller tipped for a shootout until summer break to retain 2026 MotoGP place

Jack Miller’s hopes of retaining his place on the 2026 MotoGP World Championship grid have been boosted by speculation that he is still in the running to hold onto his Prima Pramac Yamaha seat.

The Australian’s future has been thrown into doubt following the bombshell confirmation that double WorldSBK Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu will join the satellite team next season.

The move, which had been rumoured for some weeks, was announced in the lead up to the latest WorldSBK round at Misano this weekend.

It will see Razgatlioglu become the first Turkish rider to compete in MotoGP and comes in the wake of him scoring his second WorldSBK title with BMW last year having won his first as a Yamaha rider in 2021.

As it stands, it is Miller’s team-mate Miguel Oliveira that provisionally holds the remaining seat alongside Razgatlioglu on account of having signed an option to continue for 2026.

However, Motorsport.com has reported that Miller remains in Yamaha’s good favour with respect to his feedback on an M1 package that has shown a marked step forward in competitiveness this year.

This is despite a modest return in actual results with Miller currently 16th in the standings holding a best finish of fifth place from COTA. Nevertheless, this still places him on a par with factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins, while Oliveira’s injury-hobbled campaign has yielded just three points to date.

As such, Yamaha is reportedly prepared to give Miller time to prove he is worthy of being placed in the available seat over Oliveira, despite the Portuguese rider’s contract, and is understood to have until the summer break to do that.

Jack Miller to swap MotoGP for WorldSBK in 2026?

Should Pramac Yamaha choose Oliveira over Miller, the Aussie - who has raced in the premier class since 2015 - might yet find refuge in the WorldSBK Championship next year.

Miller has expressed a keen interest in the discipline over the years, going as far as to take in wildcard outings in the Australian Superbike Championship, while he was recently confirmed to be competing in this year’s Suzuka 8 Hours with Yamaha.

The latest rumour suggests he could return to the Honda fold for next season, the manufacturer with which he made his MotoGP debut at LCR.

Moreover, the negotiation might be sweetened further by the prospect of close ally and former MotoGP rival Cal Crutchlow being considered for a managerial position within the Honda WorldSBK set-up.