We weren’t exactly short of drama and talking points at the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, were we? Marc Marquez’s (Repsol Honda Team) five crashes and subsequent withdrawal, the fallout from the #93’s crash with Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) and a phenomenal victory battle between Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) were just a few noteworthy topics to surface.
Now, speaking to the media on Sunday after the race, the always open and honest Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) has called on some of his rivals to stop moaning about their bikes’ performance and instead get on with the job at hand: “Riding a motorcycle”.
Ducati locked out the top five in Germany with Miller – finishing P6 – acting as the only non-Ducati rider sat inside the top nine. There’s no shying away from the fact that the Bologna factory have built a phenomenal motorcycle that’s being raced by some phenomenal riders this season, but the former Ducati star isn’t getting down in the dumps about it.
“Well, I mean, they're good at the moment. There's no doubting that, but they weren't always good. We'll get them,” said the Aussie on Sunday afternoon at the Sachsenring. KTM have shown they possess the power to beat Ducati in 2023. In Germany, Miller stuck his RC16 on the front row and on the Tissot Sprint rostrum, while Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was on for another Sunday podium until his Turn 8 crash. After the Grand Prix race, Miller went on to passionately describe the Austrian factory as the only ones who aren’t complaining about their bikes’ competitiveness.
“We're the only ones not complaining about our motorcycles and we're actually trying to do something about it, to fix it,” continued the #43. “Everyone else, all they do is throw their toys out of the cot and say that my bike is s**t. As simple as that.
“Yeah, but why are they s**t? Because it’s their own doing. They kicked out 99% of the engineers to get his engineers. His guys in there. And now they are f****d and he can't even make it past the lap. So it's their own doing. Everybody wants to complain about their own bikes, nobody wants to do anything about it. Shut the f**k up and get on with it the job.”
Miller’s honestly comes at a time when Honda and Yamaha are struggling for performance, with Aprilia also currently unable to reach the heights they were operating at in 2022. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) was Honda’s sole representative in Sunday’s German GP with Marc Marquez, Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) and Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) all injured.
A soft tyre gamble failed to pay off for Fabio Quartararo as he and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ teammate Franco Morbidelli crossed the line in P13 and P12 respectively. Elsewhere, Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™ Team) was Aprilia’s highest finisher in P10, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) describing the Noale factory’s situation as them simply not having “the level”.
What do you think of Miller’s comments? Join us at the Motul TT Assen this weekend to see if this debate - amongst others - rumbles on at The Cathedral.