Miller: Title will go down to the wire

An unpredictable 2020 MotoGP season reaches its halfway stage with round seven of 14 at Misano this weekend.

At present, the top nine are covered by just 23 points, with five riders - Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Brad Binder (KTM), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Miguel Oliveira (KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) - claiming a race victory so far.

Third-in-the-standings Jack Miller believes most knew the 2020 MotoGP title chase would go 'down to the wire' the moment reigning champion Marc Marquez broke his arm at the Jerez season opener.

The Australian also believes there's no clear standout yet in terms of machine, following Fabio Quartararo's comments earlier today that the Suzuki looks like a perfect bike.

"It's always easy to stand there and look at another bike and say it's a perfect bike. Many people were saying that about the Yamaha in Jerez and not so much any more. But I mean they are working really well here," Miller said.

"If we talk about the Suzuki, Rins crashed in Jerez 1, and injured the shoulder. Rode at Jerez 2 and then started getting on form in Austria, and then crashed out in the first race trying to pass me and Dovi.

"So I think at the moment, Mir has been the only real consistent rider, which is strange because he's only in his second year in the class. And to be honest as of late he's been outperforming his team-mate and looks like the most solid asset Suzuki has at this point in time.

"But for sure, KTM is looking great, the Yamaha apart from Austria has been looking really good, the Suzuki's looking good, the Ducati is looking good."

Miller added: "I think putting it down to a bike is not the right way to go about it. Every rider is in this title chase.

"This championship is going to come down to the wire. I think we all knew that as soon as Marc got injured. Everyone sort of stepped up their game, but then we've seen a lot of mistakes.

"So I think the biggest thing now, reaching the halfway point this weekend, is going to be just to minimise the mistakes and collect as many points as possible, but we can’t be too conservative. Also, like we've done in the past, try to fight for the podium or the victory if it's possible."

But the Pramac Ducati rider fears that another victory fight may have to wait for more favourable circuits than this weekend's second Misano outing.

"I think we're [Ducati riders] at a track now where, apart from Pecco, the rest of us seem to be struggling a little bit. Pecco has got quite a 'round' [flowing cornering] style and was able to really make the bike work here," Miller explained.

"So we've been studying his data, but this is kind of a hard one for us, but we're coming to tracks in the not too distant future where I really get along and where our bike really gets along really well.

"Aragon, Le Mans, Barcelona, Valencia… a lot of tracks there that I really enjoy and then Portimao at the end which is a big question mark. We'll see what we can do."

Dovizioso leads the world championship by six points over Quartararo heading into this weekend, with Miller 12 points adrift in third.

"It's so difficult to say who will finish first, who will finish second," Quartararo said. "We've had five different winners in six races. So now I don’t expect anything. This championship is totally up and down. Let's see. Last time the Ducati was struggling a little bit apart from Pecco, but I hope to fight for the victory this weekend and take the leadership back."