Jack Miller says he ‘hit a wall’ in closing stages of Qatar GP

Australia’s Jack Miller says he “hit a wall” with rear grip in the latter stages of his factory Ducati debut at the season-opening Qatar GP.

Miller claimed ninth place under lights at Losail on Sunday, having earlier been in podium contention in the first MotoGP™ race of 2021.

Launching from P5 on the grid, Miller made a sensational start as he, teammate Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac Ducati riders Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin grabbed the top four places.

But all of them struggled later in the race, with Miller unable to keep his tyres fresh enough to compete on the final laps.

The race was won by Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales, with Zarco and Bagnaia completing the podium after the Ducati bikes overtook Joan Mir (Suzuki) just metres from the finish line.

“I was able to drop my pace to the low 1:55s for a few laps and then, bang, I sort of hit a wall and started losing the rear mid-corner,” Miller said.

“I was just trying to manage the tyre in the beginning, and it didn’t really work so we need to understand what I’m doing, what the others are doing.”

MotoGP™ returns to Losail this weekend for the Doha GP – the second of two consecutive rounds in the Middle East to start the 2021 campaign.

“Ninth position is definitely not the result we were hoping for, but it’s still important points for the championship,” Miller added.

“Now we will analyse the data to understand what happened and find a solution ahead of the next GP, which will be held again here in Qatar.”