Australian returns to the top 10 at Spain's 14th round.
Australian MotoGP contender Jack Miller says a strange vibration on lap 17 of Aragon’s 23-lap encounter led him to ride cautiously in the closing stages, ultimately relinquishing eighth position to multi-time world champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha).
The Pramac Racing ace initially thought it was severe tyre degradation, although while a post-race inspection confirmed the tyre was significantly worn, it didn’t highlight the sudden vibration, prompting a now ongoing investigation within the team to pinpoint the issue.
“I had this feeling like the bike had jumped out of gear or something, because I had this huge vibration,” Miller explained. “I thought I’d delaminated the rear tyre on the left-hand side, so that was a bit of a panic because I thought I was probably going to have to retire or crash.
“I’d been riding with one eye on that because the whole race, from the first lap, the tyre light came on my dash warning me about the tyre consumption. I knew that wasn’t right because it was so early in the race, but you knew it was coming, and I just kept counting the laps down waiting for a drama.
“Seeing a tyre light every corner make it hard to keep calm, that’s for sure. When that vibration came, lap 17 I think it was, I immediately dropped my pace back half a second or more into the 1m50s, which left me exposed to Valentino [Rossi] coming up from ninth, and he got me with less than two laps to go.
“I had nothing for him at that stage, I wanted to fight him but the tyres definitely didn’t. When I got off the bike, the tyre looked fine as far as the chunking goes – there were no bits hacked out of it – but it was destroyed. Maybe the vibration came from the gearbox, we’re still not sure until we look into it a little bit more.”
The top 10 finish marks Miller’s first since the Assen grand prix after a number challenging rounds. The number 43 now sits 12th in the MotoGP World Championship as the series heads to Thailand on 7 October.