Jack Miller was reunited with victory at the Japanese Grand Prix. The Australian driver prevailed practically from start to finish at Motegi, despite starting from seventh position. After taking the lead in the first few laps, he knew how to go it alone and manage the advantage over his pursuers, Jorge Martín and Brad Binder.
Miller ‘s first place comes after a first half of the year with few lights and many shadows. The shadows were so dark that he ended up signing to race with KTM from 2023.
However, once the halfway point of this campaign was over, both Miller and Pecco Bagnaia found the speed and consistency that had been lacking until then. The man from Townsville had already hit the post on several occasions, with three podiums and one pole, but had never been able to put the finishing touches on his weekends.
“The truth is that it has been better than I thought,” he acknowledged in the post-race press conference. “I felt strong all weekend. Yesterday I ended up a bit disappointed, because I think it could have been better in the wet, but being seventh I said ‘well, let’s try to come back'”, he explained.
“I knew I had a good pace, and this morning, in the warm up , I was able to lap at a pace of 1:45 with the hard tire. I was able to come back quite quickly, and in the end I just had to fight with Jorge Martín. Once in front, I was able to impose my pace. I knew where I could push and where I had to manage, but the truth is that the bike was fantastic,” added Miller.
One of his successes was opting for the harder tire on a track without much grip after heavy rain on Saturday. “It was difficult [to choose the right tyre]. Everyone went for the medium, I had done a mock race with that compound on Friday, so I had that information. It was difficult to find the right choice, but I tried the hard in the warm -up. up and I had a good feeling, so I went for the hard one and didn’t look back.”
“It worked out well for us, and I’m glad I didn’t have to fight at the end of the race, because it seems like the medium still had grip . With ten laps to go I had to start shortshifting and managing on the straights, because this circuit It has a lot of acceleration and braking and I stressed the center part of the tire a bit.
Miller hadn’t played the Australian anthem since the 2021 French Grand Prix, making this victory “very emotional”. “I cried like a baby on the lap of honour. The truth is that I wasn’t aware of having all that in store. I was focused from start to finish, and when you run like that you become your own enemy.”
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