Jack Miller is now a rider with the Ducati factory team. A status which will impose new constraints on him while he will be perceived differently than during the last three years spent on a Desmosedici Pramac. However, he knows the house of Borgo Panigale, like its executives, and vice versa. That being said, Miller will have added pressure due to the Australian flag he sports on his number. A decoration which was also that of a certain Casey Stoner while the compatriot Troy Bayliss also left very good memories for the red shirts…
Fact, Jack Miller will first be observed from the angle of its glorious elders. The latter brought titles and victories, in WSBK as in MotoGP. However, for the moment, the Townsville native from 26 years old went up, with his Ducati, only on the steps of the podium located next to the central unit marked with the 1.
In 2003 and 2004, Bayliss was a regular driver in the factory team Ducati, but had not won a race at the time. He had more success in the World Superbike Championship, where he was titled three times as a Ducati factory rider. Then, in 2006, Troy bayliss achieved the feat of realizing in MotoGP during the season finale in Valencia as a substitute Sete Gibernau for a single race.
For its part, Casey Stoner took 23 of his 38 MotoGP victories as a Ducati factory rider between 2007 and 2010. The highlight of his time in Bologna was the 2007 season, when Stoner became world champion with ten victories.
It is in the shadow of its two Australian monuments that Jack Miller will have to rise towards the light. A hell of a challenge… “ This is of course a great motivation for me. After all, I grew up with the images when Casey and Troy were in those colors. They were my idols, so to speak », admits Miller.
Jack Miller: “I am my own biggest critic”
But he adds: “ you can only put pressure on yourself. I am my own biggest critic and so I don't need to look elsewhere for pressure. These guys were and still are fantastic motorcycle racers. I can only try to be the best I can be myself. I can't say what it will be like in the end. Time will tell us »Says Miller, whose contract is currently only valid for 2021.
Miller describes being the third Australian to drive for the Ducati factory team in 15 years as " quite strange, as there haven't been that many Australian motorcycle racers in recent times ». Jack Miller matters 99 Grands Prix on the clock, a victory in MotoGP on Honda and the wet track of Assen in 2016, and ten podiums, including nine with Ducati.
It will be recalled that in the 1980s and 1990s, Wayne Gardner et Mick doohan have won a total of six world championship titles in the 500cc category. And when it comes to race victories, alongside Gardner and Doohan, Daryl Beattie, Garry McCoy and Chris Vermeulen have also contributed to the Australians' success in the premier class.
