Miller working to be “all-round package” for Ducati

Jack Miller says he’s awaiting Ducati’s next move after re-signing Andrea Dovizioso and wants to be a consistent performer to strengthen his potential as an option to the Italian factory team.

During Friday practice at Le Mans it was confirmed Dovizioso has agreed on a new contract with Ducati keeping him at the factory squad until 2020 which is thought to trigger the next sequence of rider deals for next season.

Miller, who signed for Ducati on a one-year arrangement last August, says he’s content with his current position in the Pramac Ducati squad and is eager to focus on his “all-round” capabilities having secured four top 10 results in the opening four races of 2018.

“We’ll have to wait and see as we will keep doing what we are doing,” Miller said after ending Friday practice sixth fastest. “I feel good at the moment and I am really happy with my team and with my position.

“I’ve just got to keep working away and doing my job. If I am seen fit enough to take that spot then I feel I am.

“I feel step-by-step we’ll get there. It is not only the outright speed it is also our all-round package and I feel I am showing my potential at that. Seven top 10s in a row [counting in the final three races of 2017] so that is what they are looking for, they are not looking for someone who can be there one weekend and then struggling for top 10s at the next weekend.

“I am trying to be the all-round rider and I think if I can show more of that then we can be a contender for that ride but we will have to wait and see. I’d like it – those leathers look nice.”

Miller is fractionally outperforming teammate Danilo Petrucci for Pramac Ducati this season on theoretically inferior machinery, with the Australian on the GP17 compared to Petrucci’s factory-specification bike, as he sits two points ahead of the Italian in the MotoGP riders’ championship plus the addition of his dramatic pole position in Argentina.