Miller last won a MotoGP race in a rainy Dutch TT in 2016 and got off to a miserable start in life as a works Ducati rider in 2021, but benefited from the late problems for Quartararo to lead a Ducati 1-2 at Jerez.
Miller used the power of Ducati to get Quartararo off the line, with the Frenchman dropping to fourth place behind Franco Morbidelli and Francesco Bagnaia.
Quartararo dispatched Bagnaia to third place at the end of the second round and demoted former Petronas SRT teammate Morbidelli in the same spot on the following tour.
The factory Yamaha rider took the lead from Miller in the last corner one lap later and began to stretch his legs in clean air.
Quartararo was clear for almost a second on lap eight and would extend his lead to over 1.5 seconds in the following laps.
Miller’s pace was strong, but there was nothing he could do to catch up with Quartararo, who looked well on his way to claim his third straight win in 2021.
However, on lap 14, Quartararo’s gap was cut from 1.5 to eight tenths and further decimated when the Yamaha rider was struck by a mysterious problem.
This left him powerless to prevent Miller from taking the lead on lap 16 at corner one, while Bagnaia Quartararo pushed back to third two laps later.
When Miller took a lead of over 1.5 seconds, Quartararo crashed the order because he was mercilessly picked up by his fellow men.
At the start of the penultimate lap, Miller’s lead was just over a second when his Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia took advantage of his advantage.
However, Miller reacted in the final lap and a half, building his lead to over a second to claim his first wins as a Ducati rider and his first since 2016.
Bagnaia stayed mounted to complete a Ducati 1-2 at Jerez, while Morbidelli was on the last step of the podium as a comfortable top Yamaha rider on a two year old M1.
Takaaki Nakagami jumped fourth late in the race on his LCR Honda ahead of World Champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki from tenth on the grid, while Aleix Espargaro’s early podium finish on the Aprilia eventually ended in sixth place.
Maverick Vinales finished seventh on his works Yamaha ahead of Johann Zarco von Pramac and the Honda works duo Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro.
Miguel Oliveira was the best KTM rider at the checkered flag in 11th place ahead of HRC Wildcard Stefan Bradl and the fading Quartararo, with Tech 3 pair Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona taking the last points.
Brad Binder (KTM) crashed twice on Sunday afternoon, alongside Avintia’s Enea Bastianini and LCR’s Alex Marquez on the sidelines – while Suzuki’s Alex Rins finished 20th after an early fall.
Bagnaia now leads the MotoGP standings two points ahead of Quartararo, while Vinales is third, another 16 points behind.