Miller ‘all in’ for Valencia win, ‘team championship’ at the back of his mind

Even though the MotoGP teams’ championship is still to be decided, Jack Miller has a third win of the year on his mind and is prepared to throw everything at it. 

Miller will line-up third behind fellow Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin. 

But although Yamaha - their rivals for the teams’ title suffered another poor qualifying session - Fabio Quartararo only eighth and Franco Morbidelli 11th - Miller is focusing his attention more towards individual glory and thus joining the three-race-win club. 

"Yeah, for sure there's the team championship, but I mean it’s all in! We’re in Valencia, the final race, so you gotta have a crack at it," said Miller.  

"I think Pecco [Bagnaia] has had three wins this year, Marc [Marquez] has had three this year, so I would like to join that club. We’ll see what we can do."

While the 2021 riders’ title may have gone the way of Quartararo and Yamaha, Ducati are widely considered to have the best all-around package on the grid at this moment. 

Recent wins and qualifying performance would help to suggest that, while the number of Ducati riders often starting on the front two rows and challenging for podiums is higher than other manufacturers. 

Sure, Ducati has two extra bikes and riders compared to most other manufacturers, but Miller believes the current group of riders is playing a big role due to the positive team dynamics and subsequent bike development.

Miller was presented with a question of whether any particular areas of the bike have been developed to suit one specific rider during the post-qualifying press conference, and although the Australian doesn’t believe that’s the case, they all have points of view that can help to create an overall friendlier package to ride. 

Miller added: "I mean, it’s hard to say because there have been so many guys on Ducati’s the last few years. 

"Not one part goes to somebody or… It’s all put into a group and the engineers sit together to discuss the feedback and what not, so I don’t think it comes down to one certain guy. 

"For sure, everybody is working on the same thing. Maybe one guy might say something is negative but then another finds positives which is overlooking the negative and we work together to make it better.

"So it works really well with the current group, and also the way we are communicating, talking to each other regarding the new parts that come in and therefore the development of the bike."