Recently, KTM announced the replacement of Miguel Oliveria by Jack Miller of the Austrian Marque for the 2023 MotoGP season.
Miller has been associated with the factory squad of KTM since the French GP. Later, Alex Rins also confirmed the discussions that took place with the marque. It happened after Suzuki shockingly decided to quit MotoGP by the end of the year.
Over the past few weeks, the connection between Miller and KTM has grown stronger after he announced that he is signing for 2023 on Thursday morning. Last month, Oliveria confirmed about getting an offer of returning to the Tech 3 squad for 2023. But, it was only if he wanted to remain with the KTM since the marque is looking to re-vamping its line-up.
However, he refused to take this as an option as he was going to join Ducati with Gresini in 2023.
When asked about the news, Francesco Guidotti, team manager of KTM, said that the team is including Jack alongside Brad, which proved to be a solid asset for them. He said that he knew him well and how he likes to work, which means he can bring something to the box. He believes in his character and the way he will ride to push their KTM RC16. According to him, it will help them a lot in such a phase of their project.
Comparing him to Brad, he said that Jack is a pure racer. Therefore, he will find the limits and the maximum of any condition and package and yet go for it to get the result, which is relatively a rare quality. He concluded by saying that the next two season is going to be exciting for them.
The KTM motorsports director, Pit Bierer, added that they have known Jack from the moment he made a boom with Aki and their Moto3 program. They feel it a pleasure to bring such a talented rider into their MotoGP structure.
He also said that he left them on a positive note and still stayed in their contact. And since his approach and attitude are similar to theirs, they are happy and proud to let him join the team. He considered him a great addition to their mission.
In 2019, KTM offered Miller to ride with the team as a replacement for Johann Zarco for 2020. At that time, Miller’s Ducati future was uncertain at Pramac as they wanted to bring Jorge Lorenz back.
However, now he will partner with Brad Binder from 2023. Moreover, it has been expected that KTM will revise its line-up in 2023, with Pol Espargaro rumored to return to Tech 3, whereas Joan Mir is anticipated to take his place at Honda.
Another surprising event was witnessed last week after Yamaha announced that they are going to re-sign Fabio Quartararo for a fresh two-year deal. He is the latest high-profile name to secure their future in the 2023 season.
On the other hand, Aprilia also announced to retain both Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales by the end of 2024. We also got the news of Aprilia joining forces with RNF Racing in 2023 with the purpose of fielding satellite bikes for the first time.