Jack Miller finished the Austrian MotoGP in 21st place, 1m 7.530s behind winner Pedro Acosta, after his Pramac Yamaha lost substantial rear-tyre performance during the race. Miller’s fastest lap was a 1m 30.939s set on lap 3 of 28. His closing laps, however, took 1m 38.929s and 1m 40.225s. Both were slower than the 1m 38.689s race lap record recorded in the Harley-Davidson Baggers class, giving context to Miller’s description of his late pace as “Bagger times”.

Miller told Crash.net that the deterioration became obvious around lap 13 or 14, when the rear tyre began spinning heavily along the straight, especially in third and fourth gear. He had moved ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Pol Espargaro during the early laps, but was back at the tail of the field by lap 9. From lap 23 onward, his lap times slipped through the 1m 33s, 1m 34, 1m 35 and 1m 36 ranges before the two particularly slow laps at the finish.

The rider changed to engine map 2 on lap 3 and later selected map 3, which he described as a backup map. Those changes could not halt the decline. Miller said that, in the final stages, the tyre had worn down to its base rubber, leaving a strip of that material across the centre. He could no longer apply the throttle normally on the straight and had to enter corners cautiously because the rear was trying to spin.

A tyre issue Yamaha has seen before

Miller said the same tyre construction had caused similar trouble for Yamaha in Thailand and Austria. He did not consider retiring from the race. As he explained to Crash.net, the contest lasts until the chequered flag and a red flag could still change the situation. Looking ahead, he expects the regular tyres to return at Motegi, while the problematic option is due to appear again at Mandalika. Miller suggested that the Indonesian circuit might place more emphasis on the side of the tyre, although the outcome remains to be seen.

Yamaha’s broader result was also difficult. Its riders filled four of the final five positions: Fabio Quartararo was 17th, 30.140s behind Acosta; Alex Rins was 19th; Toprak Razgatlioglu finished 20th, 46.724s behind the winner; and Miller was 21st. For Miller, the unusually slow final laps were therefore the visible result of a rear tyre that had lost much of its usable performance by the end of the Austrian race.