Miller eyes Phillip Island glory to sign off Ducati stint

Australian MotoGP™ rider Jack Miller is determined to end his five-year stint with Ducati with a bang ahead of his move to KTM and has his sights on the top step of the Phillip Island podium for the return of the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix from October 14-16.

Miller, 27, wraps up a two-season stint with the factory Ducati Lenovo Team at the end of 2022, where he's won two Grands Prix and taken eight podium finishes, ending 2021 in a career-best fourth in the premier-class world championship standings.

Speaking to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation's official podcast In the Fast Lane, Miller said he and the team are hell-bent on finishing their time together with the best possible results after three podium finishes in the first half of this year. The Townsville native currently sits in seventh place in the MotoGP™ standings with 91 points, but is just 23 points adrift of third-placed Johann Zarco.

"I would have liked to have had 100 points under my belt by this point of the championship, we're just short of that," Miller said.

"I'm excited to see what we can do in the back-end of the season. I just want to enjoy these last nine races with the team and try to put as many podiums under my belt as possible. (Ducati) know I'm pushing the most I've ever pushed, I'm the lightest I've ever been, I feel like I'm the best version of myself I've ever been … That's one good thing with Ducati, they won't back off and they want their bikes on top, and their riders on top."

Miller stood on his home Grand Prix podium for the first time in the MotoGP™ class on the sport's most recent visit to Phillip Island in 2019 when he finished in third place, and feels more is possible this October as Australian fans get set to welcome the world's best riders back to one of the calendar's most revered circuits.

"As long as I've been at Ducati, we've got the best possible package this year that we've had to try to challenge for a victory at Phillip Island," he said.

"I'm extremely excited to get back there, knowing how the bike is behaving now in the faster corners. I feel like the stars are aligning, and there'd be no better way to send off this chapter than that – that's my dream.

"Aussie motorsport fans have been hanging out for Phillip Island for a while. Being on the podium there in 2019, the atmosphere was just ridiculous – I don't even know how to describe it. I think there's going to be a massive turnout this year, and that's definitely the one that's highlighted in my calendar – I can't wait to get there."

The In The Fast Lane podcast is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts platforms.