Miller ‘positive’, Kelso prominent at Silverstone

Jack Miller had his second-best weekend of a challenging season at the British Grand Prix, the Australian scoring in the sprint and Grand Prix on the same weekend for the first time since the Americas GP in April with seventh in Saturday’s sprint preceding a 12th-place result on Sunday. 

From 11th on the grid, the KTM rider spent all but two laps of Sunday’s 20-lap race inside the top 10 before losing late places to Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Franco Morbidelli (Ducati), the latter having to serve a double long-lap penalty after taking out Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi on the first lap of Saturday’s sprint. 

Miller finished 25.767secs behind race-winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati), and his seven points for the weekend were his most at one event since he scored 16 in Portugal in round two.

The 29-year-old, who admitted leading into the weekend that he has no offers to extend his premier-class tenure into an 11th season in 2025, said his first race back after the mid-season break was encouraging, if still challenging. 

“All in all, a positive weekend but 25 seconds to the first [place], we want to be a little bit closer than that,” he said. 

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“The race wasn’t ideal. I threw everything bar the kitchen sink at it, I was trying to hang in there with those boys especially at the beginning, just having a lot of grip issues entering corners. I didn’t feel as strong as I did yesterday [in the sprint], so whether it’s the cooler conditions or what, we need to understand. 

“Fabio came past me with two [laps] to go and that opened the door for Franky [Morbidelli] as well, and then I watched Franky dispense of Fabio pretty quick. Seeing the amount of grip he had towards the back-end of the race was impressive. We need to work on being able to use the tyres better, the potential better.”

Fellow Australian Remy Gardner, competing for the Yamaha test team as a wildcard in place of injured British rider Cal Crutchlow, qualified 22nd and finished 18th to bring up the field in both races, finishing 59.137secs behind Bastianini on Sunday. 

In Moto3™, Australia’s Joel Kelso finished seventh in a frantic lightweight-class race at Silverstone, the 21-year-old just 0.548secs from victory after 15 breathtaking laps. 

Riding for BOE Motorsports, Kelso started from third on the grid, making the front row for the first time since Portugal in round two, and took the holeshot and led on the opening lap as a front group of 11 riders swapped paint and rubbed elbows in the opening five laps. 

Kelso looked to be in the victory mix for the opening 10 laps before being pushed back to ninth in two separate incidents in the final sector with six laps to go, but fought back to gain two spots and finish just 0.328secs off the podium in a race won by pole-sitter Ivan Ortola (KTM). 

“Until the last lap we were there, I just didn't get my strategy right,” Kelso said.

“The plan was to come onto the [back] straight in fifth and to be able to slipstream my way onto the podium positions, what I was doing all race really. 

“But it just didn't go to plan, I just didn't get the best exit out of the second-last chicane and that just buggered it for us.”

It was a tougher afternoon for Kelso’s compatriot Jacob Roulstone at Silverstone, the 19-year-old GasGas Tech3 rider’s race unravelling in the opening two laps after qualifying sixth, matching his season-best from the Americas GP in round three.

Roulstone was slow off the line and dropped to ninth in the opening sector of the race, then ran deep into the gravel at Turn 16 to end the first lap, taking Kelso’s BOE Motorsports teammate David Munoz with him and being given a long-lap penalty for irresponsible riding that dropped him to the back of the field. 

From there, all Roulstone could do was aim at the back-end of the points and hope for attrition ahead of him; he was given a track limits warning with three laps to go before crossing the line in 17th, 23.059secs behind Ortola and 10secs outside of the points.

“I’d like to apologise to David Munoz and his team,” Roulstone said. 

“I’m disappointed. I had a really bad start, stressed myself a lot because I knew that I needed to stick with the front group. It’s unlucky what happened, nothing was intentional. I completed my long-lap penalty and once that was done, I tried to re-focus.”

Kelso’s nine points sees his season tally grow to 64 and improve one place to ninth in the world championship standings, while Roulstone’s non-score drops him two places to 14th on 44 points at the halfway mark of the season.

In Moto2™, Australia’s Senna Agius launched a strong comeback after a difficult qualifying at Silverstone, the 19-year-old Husqvarna rider taking his second top-10 result of the season with 10th place after starting from 20th. 

Agius, who announced he’d be staying with the Liqui Moly Husqvarna IntactGP team for a second intermediate-class season in 2025 after qualifying, made his Sunday with a superb first lap where he gained six places to immediately vault into the points before a spate of crashes in the front group saw him inside the top 10 halfway through the 17-lap race. 

Agius finished 13.935secs behind Jake Dixon (Kalex), the British rider taking the first victory by a home rider in any class at Silverstone since Danny Kent in Moto3 in 2015. 

With 32 points, Agius retained 15th in the standings halfway through his first full-time world championship campaign.