Jack Miller To Make Jump To MotoGP For 2015
Paul Carruthers | September 17, 2014
Photography by Gold & Goose
Moto3 World Championship leader Jack Miller will do what many expected him to do: He will make the jump directly from Moto3 to MotoGP after inking a deal with the LCR Honda team to campaign a RC213V Open class Honda in the 2015 MotoGP World Championship.
The 19-year-old Australian will ride alongside Cal Crutchlow with the Brit set to ride the factory spec Honda RC213V. The team will be sponsored by a new backer, CWM FX – a finance company based in London. Miller is currently nine points ahead in the Moto3 World Championship with five rounds remaining.
“I’m very happy to make the leap up to MotoGP next year, especially because I will do so alongside HRC,” Miller said in a team release. “It’s a dream come true; I think that every rider would like to race at the highest level in the World Championship with a Honda. It is certainly a big jump from Moto3 to MotoGP, but I am convinced that we are ready and that, step-by-step, learning every day, we can do a great job. It’s a fantastic opportunity and I’m very excited about starting this new stage of my career with HRC, whom I wish to thank together with CWM LCR Honda Team. I’m looking forward to working with them. In the meantime, I remain fully focused on this season’s Moto3 World Championship. I will have to avoid any distraction in order to fight for the title.”
The 2015 season will mark the first time that team owner Lucio Cecchinello will field two riders in MotoGP. For the past few years, LCR Honda has featured German Stefan Bradl on the factory spec Honda.
“Without any doubt, this is a very exciting project and a completely new challenge for us,” Cecchinello said. “We do believe that Jack will be a future strong performer in the premier class due to his undeniable talent, motivation and drive. Together with Honda we will do our best to let him familiarize himself, step by step, with the MotoGP class. For sure Jack will need time to learn how to ride a 1000cc machine, but there is no rush and next year will just be a learning season for him in the new class. Honda has a long-term plan with him and we believe that with no pressure Jack will be able to show his talent in MotoGP.”
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-30-year tenure at America’s Daily Motorcycle News Source.
