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Jack Miller
Miller, Vinales Among New Faces Set To Join MotoGP in 2015

Maverick Vinales is making the logical next step up the MotoGP ladder – this time to the very top.

The 19-year-old Spaniard, after seasons as a Moto3 World Champion (2013) and Moto2 Rookie of the Year (2014), is joining countryman Aleix Espargaro in the Suzuki stable as the mark returns to Grand Prix racing in 2015.

“At first I felt like it was a joke – I was in my first Moto2 season and, all of a sudden, a big factory like Suzuki wanted me,” Vinales told MotoGP.com. “At first you think to yourself, ‘they will want to talk to me in a couple of years,’ but ultimately they wanted me for next year and we were able to reach an agreement. This is like a dream.”

A dream will also be fulfilled for another 19-year-old – Jack Miller, who is jumping to the premier class from Moto3, where he won six races in 2014 and finished just two points behind World Champion Alex Marquez in the season standings.

Miller, an Australian, will ride an Open Honda bike with the CWM LCR Honda team.

“I think that every rider would like to race at the highest level in the World Championship with a Honda,” Miller said. “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.”

Vinales and Miller will be on the grid at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 9, 2015, for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, battling defending race champion and two-time defending World Champion Marc Marquez, of the Repsol Honda team.

Also moving up to MotoGP is Louis Baz (France), to NGM Forward Racing after competing in the FIM Superbike World Championship, and Eugene Laverty (Ireland), to Drive M7 Aspar after years of experience in Superbikes and the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix classes.

Marco Melandri, a five-time winner in the MotoGP premier class from 2003-2010, is returning to the grid with the new Factory Aprilia Gresini team. The Italian was a six-time Superbike winner in 2014 on Aprilia bikes.

Another former MotoGP rider returning is Alex de Angelis of San Marino, with the Octo Iodaracing Team.


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