Miller ready for 2021 MotoGP
MotoGP season 2021 is about to get underway, and Australia’s Jack Miller, now in the factory Lenovo Ducati Team, is ready for what may be his best shot at the title since he joined the premier class.
Speaking at the press conference ahead of this weekend’s Barwa Grand Prix of Qatar at the Losail International Circuit, Miller acknowledged the extra pressure that comes with being part of a factory team and the extra hype following the official MotoGP test at the same venue, where he topped the timesheets.
"For sure I think there is a lot more hype than if I topped the times last year with Pramac,” Miller said, referencing the satellite Ducati team he’s been a part of for the past three seasons.
“For sure there is extra pressure there, we haven’t had much time to feel it, everything has been relatively good so far, it hasn’t been difficult, so we’ll see when it gets difficult how the pressure sinks in but apart from that, everything feels a step up.”
On the move to the Ducati factory team for 2021, Miller found the most noticeable change was in the extra resources and personnel available to tackle issues with the Desmosedici GP on the track.
“Having more stuff is nice to have, you don’t feel the full benefit of it coming to a test with four days at the same track. Just in the first couple of exits I noticed, with the people around me, we were able to adapt and overcome other problems that took more time in the past."
MotoGP missed the traditional season opener in 2020 after Qatari authorities blocked all international arrivals as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up. As such, only Moto2 and Moto3 classes (who were already in the country for testing), raced at Losail last year.
With no likelihood of the uncertainty and long layoffs that marked 2020 happening this year, Miller is ready to go.
“The pre-season went good, the times were good in testing, but we can’t look into it too much. We’ll start again from zero here, it will be a bit different with Dunlop rubber on the track from Moto2 and Moto3 so we’ll come in with an open mind.
"I feel ready as I’ll be,” the 26-year-old concluded.
The 2021 Barwa Grand Prix of Qatar is scheduled for Sunday, 28 March.