In the conditions he normally starred in, Jack Miller was unable to repeat previous flag-to-flag performances at the Austrian MotoGP after problems aboard his Desmosedici GP-21.
Miller had previously ridden in the top six, but as the race progressed the Australian was unable to keep up with the pace of the leading drivers.
Instead, the Ducati rider came under pressure from Brad Binder, Joan Mir, and Aleix Espargaro, all of whom got past Miller.
This led to an early risk on wet tires – a decision made two laps too early. However, it was one thing that took into account the ‘issues ahead of time’ that were limiting the Ducati rider’s performance.
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Miller said, “I had some problems before that so I basically just threw a Hail Mary. I came out of turn three on the lap I got in and I looked at where the rain was coming from and saw it pretty tight.
“I thought, ‘okay, maybe I can time this perfectly,’ but I had no other option, shall we say.
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“I had a big problem with the bike, so yes. Not the few races we wanted here in Austria, but we’re still making progress.”
Miller, who competed in ‘crazy’ MotoGP races, said Austria wasn’t ‘that bad’ as he was able to advance much of the race even though it was drizzling.
“I’ve been to some crazy games and it wasn’t too bad. It was drizzling most of the time, but we could push pretty hard,” added Miller.
“You had to, let’s say, keep some leeway. Especially when you push the tire because you just didn’t know where the grip edge was.”