Sparks in the second 2021 MotoGP race between Jack Miller and Joan Mir. The Ducati rider says: “He hit me right from the first lap, but I don’t want to talk about it.”
Jack Miller started from the second row and he finished in 9th place with a 5.3 ″ gap. A race topped off by several sparks with Joan Mir’s Suzuki, up to one last face-to-face at the last corner. The conflict with the reigning champion started right from the first lap. “I was doing a good race, but when he was behind I understand that Suzuki rides well, we have more speed on the straight. It seems that every time he was behind me he decided to hit me, right from the first lap. And then at turns six and ten“.
At turn 16 it was clear that there was a bit too much bitterness between Jack Miller and Joan Mir. “I found myself totally wide and I protected my trajectory. As you have seen, there was a contact. I focused on my race, on doing the best possible job. After the last contact with him, I was able to push and I got back into the leading group. When I arrived with them I started to suffer a lot,” explains Jack Miller.
In that contact with Mir, there was no intentionality. “I was just protecting my line, he went wide with Rins and he wanted to block the line for everyone else. Aleix Espargarò went wide, while I stayed in my position and made my race“. It’s hard to say which of the two was in front. “I think you can see that when you go wide you cannot verify. But I don’t want to talk too much about it, these things happen in the race. I put my head down, I did my race, it’s not the ideal result but we will try to improve “.
Ducati to fix
On the eve of the MotoGP season, he was listed as one of the favorites, but the Australian finds himself having to chase his teammates with factory bikes, in addition to the Yamaha. In two weeks he will arrive in Portimao, a track that last year gave him a podium. “I suffered after taking back the leading group in the last five. I was suffering with the tires though. There are some problems we need to try to improve. We finished 5 seconds from the leaders, the season is long – concludes Jack Miller – and we need to find a solution “.