Pramac Ducati new boy Jack Miller says he feels “more in control” riding the Desmosedici GP17 than he did on the “knife-edge” Honda.
Miller has been riding Honda machinery since stepping up to MotoGP in 2015, first on the Open class RC213V-RS at LCR, before moving to Marc VDS on the RC213V for the '16 campaign.
Switching to the Pramac squad for his fourth year in the premier class, Miller has already noticed stark differences in the characteristics of the Ducati compared to the Honda.
In an interview with redbull.com, the '16 Dutch TT winner said the Ducati has more “margin”, which is allowing him to extract more laptime than he was able to manage on the Honda.
“The main difference for me is that I feel more in control of this bike than I ever did with the Honda, because the Honda felt like it was on a knife-edge the whole time,” Miller, who ended each day of the Sepang test fifth fastest, said.
“Most of the time on the Honda for the last couple of years I didn't feel like I had much margin to play with and maybe be able to use to get that last little bit of laptime out, but on this bike I'm more controlling it, you could say.
“The way to get those last tenths off seems like it's more in my hands, and the better laptimes are coming more easily to me in some ways.
“I don't feel like I have to go crazy or ride over the edge to get a laptime out of it, which is a huge positive.
“The Honda was pretty good in the change of direction stuff, but would always want to pop the front wheel coming out of the slow-speed corners.
“The Ducati seems to handle those a lot easier, so I'm having to change my approach on how to ride, but that's a good thing.”
Pramac team boss Francesco Guidotti admits the Miller that arrived at the team is completely different to the one his prior reputation suggested.
“The hope is that we can make the rider with huge talent emerge,” said Guidotti.
“When he arrived we understood that we're dealing with a guy who has changed a lot compared to his previous reputation.
“He seemed more reflective, and when I spoke to him his attitude was really positive, keeping a low profile.”
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