Jack Miller led home a double points finish for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS at Le Mans today, with a superb but pain-filled performance in the French Grand Prix.

A battered and bruised Miller, who limped away from a monumental 180km/h crash on Saturday, finished eighth for his fourth top ten finish out of five races so far this season.

In an equally impressive performance Tito Rabat finished 11th with a brilliant ride from 22nd on the grid in a physically demanding race before a near capacity crowd of 104,000 spectators.

Miller was not 100% fit for the race and lacked power in his right hand but used his trademark robust start as a platform for a top finish.

It was gritty performance from the Australian rider who was up to eighth position on lap seven in an early battle with Jorge Lorenzo. After briefly slipping to tenth Miller was positioned for his late race push to claim eighth.

The sunny and warm race day was a bonus for Rabat who started calmly from the last row of the grid and executed a patient race plan to score his best result of the season so far. Rabat finished just 1.7s out of tenth place behind Andrea Iannone.

Miller is now tenth in the championship standings with 29 points with Rabat on 13 points in advance of the next race, the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.


Jack Miller: 8th

“I was a little fortunate today with some other riders having problems but in racing you have to be in it at the finish to get the best result and that’s what we did. Considering my physical condition I think I rode a good race despite struggling to pick the bike up on corner exit. I’m happy to be back in the top ten both in the race and the points but it’s only early in the season so there's still a lot of work to do. I had a good weekend going until my crash in FP4 so now I’ll go home and rest my body and get ready to come back stronger in Mugello.”

Tito Rabat: 11th

“This is a good result for me, the best of the season so far especially because qualifying was a disaster and the struggle I had to adapt to the bike in the variable weather conditions. What I learned today was that it is better to stay calm in the race and be in a position to see things more clearly. At the end the race I was able to be ahead of the Aprilias and KTMs and close to Andrea Iannone. Now I am looking forward to the test this week in Barcelona and then to Mugello for the race”

Marc van der Straten: President, Marc VDS Racing Team

"My team of felines has proved exceptional once again. Tito rode a good race today in difficult conditions and we can see that things are coming for him. Jack showed today just how strong he his mentally, jumping back on the bike and racing hard after his huge crash yesterday. Before the race I told him that he had nothing to prove and could stop whenever he wanted. But he's Jack, so he went to the end and secured us another great result, showing both his talent and his value once again. We can be proud of both of our riders today."