MotoGP
Miller: 2021 MotoGP bike the "best Ducati so far"
Jack Miller believes the 2021 Desmosedici is the “best Ducati so far” the manufacturer has built in MotoGP following back-to-back victories at Jerez and Le Mans.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: May 28, 2021, 2:29 AM
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Ducati is the only manufacturer other than Yamaha in 2021 to have reached the podium in the first five races of the season and has won twice courtesy of Miller.
This marks the first time in MotoGP that Ducati – either with its factory team or a satellite squad – has scored five podiums in the first five races of a season, with factory duo Miller and Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac pair Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin sharing the spoils in 2021.
Ducati hasn’t won a championship since 2007 with Casey Stoner and hasn’t come close since 2017, when Andrea Dovizioso was second and 37 points adrift of Marc Marquez (although Dovizioso was only 36 points away from the title in 2020, he slid to fourth in the standings).
Having been a Ducati rider since 2018, Miller believes the 2021 bike is the best the marque has produced and feels “super fortunate” to be delivering the results he is.
“I think it’s the best Ducati so far for sure,” Miller said following his Le Mans win.
“I think they’re finally getting the fruits of their labour.
“They’ve been working their butts off for a lot of years to get this thing to where it is and it shows.
“For me they’re the hardest working manufacturer there is and I’m super happy for them and super proud to be working for them and to be giving them these results after the work they’ve put in.
“The engineers, Gigi, all the other boys, there’s so many of them there and they all work tirelessly for us and we’re extremely lucky to have them.
“I’m super fortunate to be able to give them these results back.”
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Miller’s back-to-back wins follow on from a difficult start to 2021 in which he finished ninth in both Qatar rounds and crashed out in Portugal, courting a fair amount of criticism in the media.
The Australian feels like he is now thinking about winning less, but cautioned that they’re not coming easy as “no one’s really had a chance yet” to fight for victory after just five rounds.
“I had my first one five years ago and then I had to wait,” he added.
“But no, I feel like I’ve broken the drought, or at least I’m nothing thinking about it as much at the moment.
“We just had two races, and ok today was tricky conditions [at Le Mans], but I was able to capitalise on it.
“I’m the only one at the moment [winning on Ducati], but the first one is the hardest but I’m sure Pecco will get his first one, he showed us he had great speed, and I think Johann also the same.
“There’s not been much chance, the Yamahas have won the first three and I the last two. So, no one’s really had a chance yet.”
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