Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller had a solid weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi but said he was left ‘wanting more’.
The Aussie qualified on the front row in third and narrowly missed out on a podium in the Sprint race after he was overtaken by Francesco Bagnaia with two laps to go.
Miller, who won the Japanese GP in 2022 for Ducati, was sixth in Sunday’s race, which was declared a result after 12 laps due to deteriorating conditions including heavy rain and visibility issues.
The 28-year-old – ninth in the standings after 14 rounds and 10 points behind Japan injury absentee Luca Marini – said he had been looking forward to the restart after his team made some tweaks to the factory RC16.
“Not the best day but also not the worst and I’m happy we finished,” said Miller.
“It took some time for the tyres to get going in the first part and I managed to save the rubber while gaining some time on the guys as the rain started to fall harder.
“We made a couple of tweaks to the bike to try and challenge those boys for the restart but it wasn’t meant to be today. Sixth place today but I wanted more.”
Team-mate Brad Binder, second in the Sprint race behind Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin, was caught out by the conditions on Sunday on lap six when he was running in the top 10.
The South African said he was ‘feeling good’ in the wet but a small error brought his race to an abrupt end.
“We were fast in all sessions and to bring home a podium in the Sprint yesterday was fantastic, but unfortunately today it was tricky with the weather conditions and we came in after the first lap for the bike swap,” said Binder.
“I started to feel good in the rain and with good pace but I had a small lock going into Turn 3 and that was it.
“Thank you to my team for their hard work. We’ll try and make up for it next time around.”
Binder is still fourth in the championship with six rounds to go.
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