Focused and determined, Jack Miller today took a brilliant sixth place on the rain-soaked Misano circuit.
Still as adept in the wet, the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS driver thus obtained his second top six of the season even though he started from fourteenth position on the starting grid.
His previous top six, achieved at the Dutch Grand Prix, dates back to June.
Determined to score as many points as possible after his difficult qualifying session, the Australian kept his word despite a particularly slippery track on which there were many falls today.
Ninth at the end of the first lap, Miller quickly found himself engaged in a fight for fifth place with Viñales and Crutchlow.
The Team Estrella Galicia driver grabbed this fifth place on the sixth lap, and after being neck and neck with Viñales for a long time he had to give up due to the lack of grip of his rear tire on the left side. This is what did not allow him to resist Pirro at the end of the race.
This sixth place comes at the right time to give Miller full confidence before the next race organized in two weeks in Aragon.
Also in search of points, Rabat was disillusioned from the start of the race due to a lack of grip on the wet Misano track. Definitely not ideal conditions for the Spaniard who rode very well in dry testing.
Returning to thirteenth place on the seventeenth lap, Rabat nevertheless believed he could carry out his mission. Unfortunately, three laps later, a crash at turn six ended his race.
Jack Miller: 6th
« At the start of the race I felt that I was a little faster than Viñales and Crutchlow, but in the last laps my pace dropped and I understood that I had changed the engine map a little too much to spare my rear tire. I wasn't too bad on the maximum angle but I lacked drive and I couldn't catch Pirro in the last laps. In any case, it's my best weekend since the resumption of the championship and I'm happy to have been able to score these points before the next race in Aragon »
Tito Rabat: DNF
« At the start of the race, I had no rear grip and I don't know why. My first laps were therefore complicated on this wet track. I then managed to get a better pace to catch up with the drivers in front of me and thus find myself able to finish in the points. And then opening the throttle at turn six I lost the rear. I'm disappointed for the team and for myself because I wanted to finish this race despite the difficult conditions. »
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
« I'm happy with Jack's result, but I'm even happier to see him back in top form with a good burst of speed and consistency in pace. And we don't know what could have happened if Jack had been able to overtake Viñales and Crutchlow earlier. Sixth is a perfect result considering the conditions, and now I hope we can maintain this level in the next race in Aragon. It's a shame that Tito couldn't finish this Grand Prix because he was also able to finish in the points »
