Jack Miller was disappointed to miss out on a rostrum in the wet Indonesian Grand Prix after admitting the race took place in “what seemed like my conditions.”
The factory Ducati rider launched into the lead on the second lap of the sodden sprint at the Mandalika International Circuit despite having started down in ninth, the Aussie once again putting his prowess in wet weather on display as he looked to get his 2022 MotoGP campaign on track after he was forced to retire in the season opening Qatar GP due to an electronics problem.
His victory chances soon began to dwindle though as he started to struggle with a lack of grip from the rear of his Desmosedici, Miller first losing the lead to eventual race winner Miguel Oliveira before later losing out to 2021 premier class world champion Fabio Quartararo and Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco in the closing stages en-route to fourth.
Miller conceded that he “was on my limit” with a lack of rear grip while trying to hang onto a leading position, a phenomenon he reckons was caused by the set-up on the rear of his Ducati being too stiff.
“Today seemed like my conditions, I had a good start from ninth and was pushing, trying my best and got into my rhythm very quick,” explained Miller.
“Unfortunately about seven laps in I started to struggle with rear grip, I feel like if we had more laps this weekend (in the wet) we could have fixed that issue with the setting, I felt we were probably too stiff on the rear.
“I just didn’t have great contact with the rear tyre, I had to square corners off a lot and really use the fatter part of the tyre because I couldn’t get any grip on the edge (of the tyre.)
“I hit my (target) times but I was on my limit, Miguel (Oliveira) passed me back and then I understood that he had a bit more pace, so I just kept my pace.
“Then when Fabio (Quartararo) came past I understood that I needed to push a bit more and really try and follow him and see what he was doing differently because he had a lot more pace than me at that point of the race.
“He was able to carry a lot more corner speed and I physically couldn’t, I tried but I just kept losing the rear and then it would come back and overload the front, I nearly went down a couple times so I went back to just trying to be calm and bring the bike home and not lose more positions.
“Unfortunately I fell to fourth as Johann came past and that was it, I tried my best and felt like we had good pace all weekend, even though I couldn’t show it in qualifying.”
Miller was at least minimally satisfied with getting some solid points for his riders championship bid following a disastrous Qatar outing, declaring that his championship charge “starts now.”
“We put some good points on the board, we didn’t score in Qatar so our championship starts from here,” added the three-time MotoGP race victor.
“The bike is working well, apart from the electronic issue in Qatar its been fine, we could see at the beginning of the race I was fast bit when the other guys got comfortable they could push a bit more, but we’ll do our homework because I feel like I left points on the table, I’m not 100% satisfied but our championship starts now.”
