Miller signs Marc VDS deal for 2016

The much-expected news was confirmed on Thursday, as the 20-year-old gears up to tackle his home race at Phillip Island on a MotoGP bike for the first time having made the leap directly from Moto3 this year.

Miller, who moves across from the LCR Honda team, will be joined at Marc VDS by current chief engineer Cristian Gabarrini, who used to work alongside Casey Stoner.

“I am very enthusiastic on this possibility with Honda and the Marc VDS Racing Team,” said Miller, whose best result of the season so far has been 11th at Catalunya.

“I know Marc VDS is a good, strong and experienced team, and they can build a good structure for me to fight for good positions next year.

“As we both have already one year of experience from the top class, I feel that we can gain from the experiences we have to achieve good results together with Honda.”

“It’s good to be able to finally welcome Jack to the Marc VDS Racing Team,” added team principal Michael Bartholemy.

“We wanted Jack in 2013 because we could see he had the talent to succeed and that hasn’t changed.

“This was always going to be a difficult transition season for him, having jumped straight onto the MotoGP bike from Moto3, but he’s done a solid job so far.

“Next year Jack will benefit from having the Marc VDS Racing Team behind him and, together with a competitive bike, I’m confident that this is exactly what he needs to realise his full potential.”

Miller is Marc VDS’s second signing for 2016, the Belgian squad expanding to a second bike having run only the Pramac Ducati-bound Scott Redding this season.

Last year's Moto2 champion Esteve Rabat’s place in the squad had already been confirmed, Franco Morbidelli taking over the Spaniard's seat with the team in the intermediate class alongside Alex Marquez.

Miller's confirmation leaves just one guaranteed seat up for grabs on the 2016 grid at the Aspar team, which is expected to be retained by the Spanish squad's current rider Eugene Laverty.

2016 MotoGP line-up so far

Riders in italics have yet to be confirmed

Movistar Yamaha	Valentino Rossi  Jorge Lorenzo
Repsol Honda	Marc Marquez  Dani Pedrosa
Ducati	Andrea Dovizioso  Andrea Iannone
Suzuki	Aleix Espargaro  Maverick Vinales
Aprilia	Alvaro Bautista  Stefan Bradl
Tech 3 Yamaha	Pol Espargaro  Bradley Smith
LCR Honda	Cal Crutchlow
Marc VDS Honda	Esteve Rabat  Jack Miller
Pramac Ducati	Danilo Petrucci  Scott Redding
Avintia Ducati	Hector Barbera  Loris Baz
Aspar Ducati	Yonny Hernandez  Eugene Laverty