Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Jack Miller scored his best result of the season so far with a superbly judged ride into sixth place in today’s Dutch TT.

In tricky, low grip conditions with a late race rain shower Miller stayed calm and played a waiting game in his controlled charge from 13th on the gird.

The performance shows that Miller is back to the form that produced a string of top ten results in the opening races of the season.

Despite falling back to15th place in the traffic of a frantic opening lap, Miller did not panic as he engaged fellow Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow in a mid-race battle for tenth.

The Australian’s patience and wet track skills were rewarded on lap 20 when he moved into sixth place as rain showers swept across the 4.5km Assen circuit.

Miller elected not to take the option of a pit stop for a bike swap and wet weather tyres, the same strategy employed by race winner Valentino Rossi.

Spanish rider Tito Rabat finished a tough weekend on a positive note with a controlled ride into 12th place, after starting in last place on the 23-rider grid.

Rabat finished just 0.7s behind KTM rival Pol Espargaro and ahead of factory Honda rider Dani Pedrosa.

A huge crowd of 105,000 was in attendance for the eighth round of the MotoGP World Championship.


Jack Miller: 6th

“The first lap was not good, from my grid position I got stuck on the outside through all the right hand corners and lost time, but once the group flattened out I got up to tenth in a group with Dani and Cal. I was a having nice fight with Dani and then the rain came. I kept my pace to keep temperature in the slick tyres and pushed through to sixth. With more risks I might have been able to challenge for the podium but I wanted the points, this was a good result for me. I never thought about changing bikes, there wasn’t enough rain for wet weather tyres.”

Tito Rabat: 12th

“This was one of the most difficult weekends of the season for me as I did not have a good feeling in the cold and wet conditions. But for the race we made some important set-up changes and I was able score points, I am happy for this 12th place. When the rain came I thought to stop and change bikes but then realised it was not raining very hard so I stayed out but it was not an easy decision. Towards the end I was catching Pol Espargaro and I thought I may have a chance to pass him at the final chicane but it didn’t happen.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal

“Jack again showed his potential with sixth place in conditions that made it easy to make a mistake. He showed a lot skill to stay out in the rain and not change bikes and have the pace to finish sixth. It was not an easy weekend for Tito and I am very happy he got some points so he could take something positive out of this race with 12th position.”