The Australian MotoGP rider\u2019s commitment to the Yamaha cause was on full display last weekend, Miller giving up part of his mid-season break to race for Yamaha in the revered Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race, Yamaha returning to the 47-year-old event for the first time since 2019 as part of the 70th anniversary of its motorsport history. <\/p>\n
Teamed with World Superbikes rider Andrea Locatelli and Japanese 8-Hour stalwart Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Miller finished second for Yamaha as Honda won the event for the fourth year in succession, Miller\u2019s MotoGP peer Johann Zarco joining forces with local endurance veteran Takumi Takahashi.<\/p>\n
![\"Miller\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/d61a8ec1c370947d8c5bcfb24a02bbe1.jpeg\")
Miller\u2019s second crack at the Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race ended with a second-place finish. Pic: EWC\/FIMSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
An eight-hour race at the daunting Suzuka circuit in steaming Japanese humidity \u2013 after Miller had hopped back and forth from Europe in between MotoGP rounds to test the Yamaha R1 superbike on multiple occasions this season \u2013 showed he wasn\u2019t taking his first appearance in the 8-Hour since 2017 lightly. <\/p>\n
MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n
MOTOGP\u2019S CRASH KING<\/a> The rankings no rider wants to top, and the context behind former champ\u2019s brutal luck<\/p>\n RISERS AND FALLERS<\/a> The biggest MotoGP winners (and losers) in 2025, so far<\/p>\n While second place was a step lower than his target, Miller\u2019s efforts won\u2019t have done him any harm in shoring up his MotoGP future, which remains up in the air with just 10 rounds remaining this season after Yamaha had promised a resolution to its rider dilemma before the mid-season break back at the Italian Grand Prix in June.<\/p>\n With Miller\u2019s Pramac Yamaha team having signed World Superbikes star Toprak Razgatlioglu for 2026 after the Aragon Grand Prix earlier that month, Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Paolo Pavesio told motogp.com at Mugello that a decision over whether to retain Miller, out of contract at the end of this season, or teammate Miguel Oliveira, who has a deal with the team for next year, was imminent. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen somebody comes, you need to make the space and this is not something you want to do, but it\u2019s something which is part of the game,\u201d Pavesio said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe also want to give a bit more time to both riders to have a complete assessment and then to make a choice, most probably to one of the two. We are not in a rush in a way, but before the summer break a decision has to be made, also for them.\u201d<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Marquez mastery and Miller\u2019s future with MotoGP pit lane reporter Jack Appleyard. Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n That deadline has been and gone, which appears to be a good sign for Miller. <\/p>\n Even with Oliveira missing three rounds with left shoulder ligament damage after an accident in Argentina in March, Miller has been the standout rider of the first year of Pramac\u2019s alliance with Yamaha after coming across from Ducati, Miller out-scoring (52-6) and out-qualifying (9-0) his Portuguese teammate. <\/p>\n With Yamaha owning an option on Oliveira\u2019s deal if he\u2019s the fourth-best of Yamaha\u2019s four riders in the standings at the mid-point of the season, it appears the five-time race-winner\u2019s MotoGP clock is about to strike midnight. <\/p>\n With less than a fortnight before the resumption of the calendar in Austria (August 15-17), it appears we\u2019ll know Miller\u2019s future by the time MotoGP unpacks in Spielberg for round 13 of the season. <\/p>\n And it\u2019s a future that may have an unexpected twist. <\/p>\n Yamaha has a bigger problem than Oliveira, and Miller \u2013 according to a well-placed paddock insider \u2013 may be best-placed to fix it.<\/p>\n Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Paolo Pavesio (right) has Miller\u2019s MotoGP future in his hands. (Yamaha Motor Racing Srl)Source: Supplied<\/p>\n RINS\u2019 STRUGGLES OPEN DOOR FOR MILLER<\/p>\n Fabio Quartararo\u2019s otherworldly qualifying speed<\/a> \u2013 the Frenchman has taken four pole positions this season on a bike that sits dead-last in the constructors\u2019 standings \u2013 shows that Yamaha is making progress from the steep decline it has endured since Quartararo won the 2021 world championship, and that it has the lynchpin it needs if and when the YZR-M1 is ready to fight for more meaningful prizes again. <\/p>\n It also brings the continued struggles of Quartararo\u2019s factory Yamaha teammate, Spaniard Alex Rins, into sharper focus. <\/p>\n Rins, 29, has become one of MotoGP\u2019s sadder stories since the middle of the 2023 season, where a horrendous accident at Mugello badly broke his right leg. The six-time Grand Prix winner \u2013 he\u2019d won the Americas Grand Prix earlier that season on a second-string Honda \u2013 is one of the sport\u2019s most naturally gifted riders, but has been out injured or massively compromised for the majority of the time since. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n 2026 CALENDAR REVEALED<\/a> Brazil in, Argentina out as Phillip Island date set<\/p>\n RIDER RANKINGS <\/a> Half-season standout, champ\u2019s shocker, Aussie\u2019s snub<\/p>\n It\u2019s not his fault, but Rins is why Yamaha\u2019s A-team is a one-man band fighting with an arm tied behind its back against the might of Ducati, in particular. <\/p>\n This season alone, Quartararo has more than doubled Rins\u2019 points tally (102-42) in 12 rounds, and has outqualified him at every Grand Prix. Quartararo has four poles; Rins has qualified inside the top 10 just twice. In 24 starts across sprints and Grands Prix, Rins has only two results inside the top 10. Since his Mugello career turning point, a rider who had 18 MotoGP podiums to his name has never finished better than eighth (Malaysia, 2024). <\/p>\n