Why A One-Year Contract On A Factory Ducati For 2023 Was Too Little For Jack Miller - Decision 'Mine Only'
Categories: MotoGP
Jack Miller will leave Ducati for the new season and head for the KTM factory team. But the Australian also had the opportunity to continue riding a factory Ducati but turned down the offer.
Since his switch from Marc VDS to Pramac Racing in 2018, Jack Miller has ridden a Ducati in MotoGP. This will change for the coming season. After five years on the Italian bike, Miller will make the switch to KTM in 2023.
MIller during the pos-season test in Valencia – Image provided by Motorsport Images
With steadily improving results, the Australian had secured the bike in the Ducati factory team for 2021 and 2022.
However, further growth failed to materialize in 2022, and Enea Bastianini moves up for 2023 after a promising 2021 campaign.
Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti gives autosport.com some insight into the negotiation process with Jack Miller.
With a two-year contract with the KTM factory team in hand and the opportunity to bring along his crew chief Cristhian Pupulin, there would have been little point in deciding against a change of scenery.
“Understandably, he got the opportunity to be a factory rider on a KTM for two years, probably with a slightly better salary as well,” said Paolo Ciabatti.
Paolo Ciabatti – Image provided by Motorsport Images
“Of course, we are very sorry, but I think, especially as far as the technicians are concerned, Ducati is proud to have developed very capable engineers.”
The move to the Austrians from KTM is also a big step for Miller himself. The Australian had celebrated his greatest successes to date with Ducati in MotoGP.
“It’s been an amazing journey, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve been through so many different configurations of the bike so I do feel attached to that side of things,” Miller recalls of his time with Ducati.
“The whole reason behind this decision, the whole reason for me was something different, something fresh, and that’s what I’m getting at KTM, that’s what I’m going for.”
