Jack Miller has addressed the swirling rumors regarding his future at KTM, amid speculation that his position might be in jeopardy. With his teammate Brad Binder secured under a long-term contract. Miller’s deal, like many on the MotoGP grid, is set to expire this year.
Ahead of this weekend’s Catalunya MotoGP, Miller commented on the situation: “Obviously. If I could put those contract negotiations on hold. I’d love to, and put some decent results on the board to help my chances. But we can’t. There is chatter going on. And let the powers that be do the negotiating. All I can do is what I’ve been doing. Working hard through the week to get this ball rolling, which has been stubborn.”
Rumors also suggest that if Miller loses his KTM seat to Acosta, he might switch to Honda, the team he entered the premier class with in 2015. Alternatively, Miller could remain with his current manufacturer and effectively swap places with Acosta, donning the Tech3 GASGAS colors next year.
Miller has faced a challenging start to his second season with KTM. His standout performance came during a strong weekend in Portugal, but he has since struggled. Failing to finish each of the past two grands prix and currently sitting 13th in the MotoGP standings.
Reflecting on his season, Miller said: “Only really having the two P5s in Portimao is not what I was aiming for, by this part of the season. We just keep rolling with the punches. Fingers crossed we can find our feet. We had decent speed all weekend [in Le Mans] but, in the sprint and the main race, we weren’t able to keep the bike in the window. The biggest thing for me is understanding how we can make the grip window bigger. When we’ve got grip, the bike works well. As soon as I get out of that window, I suffer more and lap time is harder to come by.”
Miller also shared insights into the technical challenges he’s facing: “Here it is considerably low on grip. We found big steps last year on the Sunday. Looking back at the data, what we learned last year. We’ve got a rough ball-park of where we need to be, in terms of set-up. We use the rear end of the bike to stop the bike. When I suffer with grip, I struggle to stop the bike. I can’t use the strong braking point.”
When asked about potential chattering issues if the KTM has low grip, Miller responded: “It depends. In Jerez, when the grip came up, it was high on Sunday compared to Saturday, it seemed to rear its head… It will be interesting to see here how the new rear tyre casing gets on with a traditionally very hard rear tyre track.”
As Miller continues to navigate a challenging season, his focus remains on delivering strong performances and letting his results speak for themselves amid ongoing contract negotiations.
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