Miller on leaving Ducati: “I’m an outsider here - sick and tired”

The Australian rider will swap the Ducati Lenovo Team for KTM’s factory team in the 2023 MotoGP rider line-up, signing a two-year contract.

He has lifted the lid on his frustration at continually being offered only one-year deals at Ducati, and being a teammate of Italian riders Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini inside an Italian team.

“It’s a good dynamic, Pecco and myself sharing the box together,” he told MotoGP’s official website.

“He has really taken the role of team leader. He stole the reins off me and has taken it strongly - I’ll admit to that. He’s done better than what I could in these past couple of years, not through a lack of trying, obviously.

“But, you know, with the two Italians in an Italian team? I mean, I don’t want to say too much… 

“I think both those boys know what’s important. They know what they want!

“I think you’d struggle to find a team-mate as easygoing as me. At the end of the day, I’m an outsider here. 

“I’m an Australian inside an Italian team. I don’t speak the language so you do get put on the outside.

“It makes it easier for the team. I’m very open and talk to the team and I think the team really enjoys having me around, but it’s never the same – the same culture, same everything.”

Bastianini will move from Gresini Ducati into the factory team to partner Bagnaia who, this season, sits only two points behind leader Fabio Quartararo in the 2022 MotoGP standings.

“It will spice things up a bit,” Miller said about next year’s partnership between Bagnaia and Bastianini.

“I think the vibe, the atmosphere in the box, definitely will be different next year. They will be very competitive.”

Rumours had started circling around the paddock that Ducati were considering replacing Miller for 2023, when his existing contract expired.

He opted to take a decision into his own hands by signing a two-year deal with KTM, and has now revealed his frustration at being unable to settle at Ducati.

“ I’m not going to sit here and lie and say everything was rosy,” Miller said.

“I was getting tired of one-year contracts. Having to justify myself in Qatar every single year, why I deserve the job, why I deserve to have my position, and getting questioned by not only the media, but everybody.

“I was sick and tired of justifying why I should be wanted.”

Miller is currently in his best form of the season having won in Japan, and coming second in Thailand.