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"I have no offer on the table and no option for 2025. At the moment, my phone is not ringing," Jack Miller had laconically admitted on the eve of the weekend at Silverstone. A few simple words that accurately capture the difficult moment the 29-year-old Australian, returning from the summer break, is going through.
Dumped by KTM at the end of this season to promote Pedro Acosta to the factory team alongside Brad Binder, and to make room for Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales in Tech3, Miller finds himself with one foot out of MotoGP and only one possible, but still not entirely certain, destination. That is the second Yamaha M1 of the Pramac Racing team.
"I feel good about myself, but obviously I would be lying if I said it was an easy three weeks at home, trying to find something for next year. I guess you could say I'm suspended in purgatory. I don't know where I stand," Jackass in England told TNT Sports, explaining the impact this uncertainty has had on his entire family.
"My wife and the baby weren't going to come to all the last races, but it looks like it might be the last ones... I don't want to be sentimental, but it's been hard. It's something I've worked for and sacrificed for," he stressed, "It's always tough when it's not on your terms. We are still trying. I'm satisfied with what I've done. I have to be."
In addition to Acosta and Fermin Aldeguer, who are already under contract for 2025, there are many young riders chiseling away to get into MotoGP next year. Tony Arbolino, Ai Ogura, Joe Roberts, and Alonso Lopez are in fact the names of some of the most serious contenders for the few remaining seats still vacant for next season, and it is precisely the talent from Garbagnate Milanese who seems to be Jack's biggest rival for the Pramac seat.
"The game changes every year. I have experienced so many different kinds of MotoGP in my short experience," he commented, "There are so many talents that are emerging. The things some of these guys can do on a motorcycle are phenomenal. You can't be mad at progress, but I feel I'm an old fox who can still be taught a few more tricks. Whether or not I will be given the opportunity is another matter...."
Having not yet put his future in black and white Miller's mood cannot be the best, but all does not yet seem to be lost. In addition to the fact that Dorna and Liberty Media cannot afford to lose the only Australian rider on the premier class lineup, Jack's experience gained over the years seems likely to be the second deciding factor in prolonging his stay in MotoGP.
In a transition year like next year, in which it will become the second official Yamaha factory team, Paolo Campinoti's team cannot afford to start training a youngster for the future.
"The best formula for Yamaha to get good results in the shortest possible time is to have riders who already know the MotoGP category, who have an idea of what a MotoGP weekend is all about and who have ridden different bikes," explained Gino Borsoi, team manager of Pramac Racing, in an interview with Speedweek, corroborating the hypothesis of the Australian as Miguel Oliveira's future teammate.
Not only can Miller boast ten seasons in the championship, and pasts in Honda, Ducati and KTM, but he also knows Campinoti's team and engineer Max Bartolini, with whom he worked for two years in Ducati, very well. If two clues make a proof, then, Jack will soon have new reasons to smile again.
