Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) earned his sixth consecutive top ten finish in Sunday’s Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, fighting his way through from 18th on the grid to end the race in P9 – continuing his solid start to the 2018 season.
The Australian, like all the Ducatis, had struggled at the Circuit of the Americas throughout the weekend, a track that has been notoriously difficult for the Bologna manufacturer. However, Miller was able to find some pace in the race to help him work his way up to the battle for eighth.
“Yeah, we made hard work of ourselves today starting from 18th on the grid, to recover 10 positions was quite difficult. The first lap was very hectic, especially here with so many tight corners, 24 bikes going in as hard as possible, some guys brakes not as hot as other guys so you can see some guys moving a lot, it’s exciting that’s for sure,” says the Argentina GP pole-sitter.
Miller was then locked in a battle with fellow Ducati riders Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) and Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) in the latter stages of the race. “I was just slowly but surely able to make my way through the group and catch up to Lorenzo and Tito, and yeah just tried to follow those guys, manage the tyres as best I could, felt I could go away from Tito and Jorge at the end, got myself to the start of the group, and started pulling away.”
Coming thoughhhh ????@jackmilleraus barges his way past @lorenzo99 #AmericasGP pic.twitter.com/IyUwnSutjw
— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) April 22, 2018
After ‘Jackass’ had created a gap between himself and Rabat, the number 43 made a small mistake at Turn 12, which then led to a frantic last lap battle between the two. “I had a slight mistake one lap to go, just after the back straight I lost the front and all the gap that I had made I gave back to him and on the last lap he was able to challenge me. We had a little back and forth action but Tito was able to bring it home today ahead of me but no, for such a struggling weekend we can be happy with the position but of course, we want more.”
Six top ten finishes in a row is something Miller can be encouraged by, with his fourth in Argentina, and his fight back today, showing his form on the Ducati was more than preseason. Is there a podium on the horizon then for the 23-year-old as we head into the European stage of the season?