Jack Miller’s Moto3 title lead slashed after finishing distant sixth in British Grand Prix

JACK Miller arrived at Silverstone hopeful of taking his fifth win of the Moto3 season, but instead left with his points lead slashed.

Miller, Moto3 race, British MotoGP 2014

JACK Miller arrived at Silverstone hopeful of taking his fifth win of the Moto3 season, but instead left with his points lead slashed in half after a difficult weekend.

The Australian finished a distant sixth behind race winner Alex Rins, losing touch with the leading group mid-race as he became embroiled in a scrap for minor places.

“I wanted to stay in the first group throughout the race, but some other riders made mistake which caused us to lose a lot of distance from the front,” Miller said.

“We had the pace and we were there lap after lap, but in the end couldn’t manage it.”

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Rins made up for his premature victory celebration in the Czech Republic by storming to his first victory of the season, edging out teammate Alex Marquez by just 0.011 seconds, with 16-year-old Enea Bastianini rounding out the podium. Just 0.123 seconds covered the first four riders, with Miguel Olivera’s Mahindra barely trailing the leading trio over the line.

Cameras focus on Miller on the grid.

The result, combined with chief title rival Marquez finishing second, means Miller’s championship lead has been slashed by 10 points. He carries a 13 point margin over the Spaniard, with Rins a further 16 points back in third, heading into the final six races of the season.

There were positives, however. Early season title contender Romano Fenati continued his run of poor results, failing to score a single point in 16th and falling to 44 points behind Miller, while Indianapolis winner Efren Vazquez crashed on the first lap and failed to finish.

The Silverstone weekend was a tough one for Miller, who was fast in early practice but lost crucial time on Friday afternoon as the team tested out a new setup direction which didn’t work as well as the team had hoped. He then struggled to find a clear lap in qualifying, leaving him to start down in eighth.

A storming start saw him cross the line in third at the end of the opening lap, but then the standard Moto3 carve-up began. Shoved aside first by Olivera and bundled back to sixth, Miller clawed his way back up to fourth before being shuffled back to 10th.

By that point, Miller’s hopes for victory were dashed. The leading group of four riders had left the rest behind and Miller was unable to bridge the gap.

“We suffered a bit this weekend, both with my riding as well as with setup,” Miller conceded.

“I think one of the main problems we’ve had has been with the bumps. We have to look at what we did well, and then do it again. Maybe I have also to communicate better with my team, to describe problems better to get more time during the weekend.”

“Now we have to get back on a positive trend and focus and on the next Grands Prix.”

The next race is the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano in a fortnight.

Rins (42) won by a narrow margin over Marquez.

Originally published as Jack Miller’s Moto3 title lead slashed after finishing distant sixth in British Grand Prix