Jack Miller will start tomorrow’s MotoGP race at Jerez from third on the grid, making it the Australian’s first front row appearance since Portimao last November.
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Miller’s late performance at the end of the second quarter led him to prevail between the two factory Ducati riders as his teammate Francesco Bagnaia will start one place down in fourth place.
As qualifying is usually one of Miller’s strengths, the Ducati factory rider in Jerez worked intensively on the racing speed and the durability of the tires. Miller summed up his weekend so far by saying: “We did two runs, which I think were ten laps each in FP1 and the same in FP2, just trying to do longer runs and work on the race pace.
“In general, I’m not that bad when it comes to throwing a round. The pace was good too. Luckily we did a run in FP3 with 13 laps on the tires and then I was able to do another ten laps run that ended up being about 23 laps (my racing tires) and it felt good, the pace was good.
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“We had planned to stay out for the entire FP4 session but I went out and we had a problem with the bike that was taking a little longer than we wanted but we got it sorted and we had to prepare both bikes for qualification The qualification went well, I was able to do a couple of constant laps.
“I’m excited! It means a lot to be back in the front row, especially here in Jerez, which is very important as it can get pretty chaotic on the first few laps.”
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Miller and Bagnaia were on the track together during the closing stages of the second quarter and with the Italian having the upper hand in previous sessions in sector four, analyzing his teammates’ data along with a firsthand look at # 63 seemed to help because Miller was the fastest overall in this sector.
“Yes, I was able to come up with a pretty straightforward solution this morning after checking the data last night,” Miller said.
“As the day went on I got better and better and we were actually the fastest through sector four, which I don’t think I was ever the fastest through sector four at Jerez.
“I don’t really know what I’ve done too much [Laughs]but it felt good and I could trust my bike to take the cornering speed. ”
The second day in Jerez resulted in a lot of falls, some of which were incredibly quick.
Since the runoff was very limited in certain areas in Jerez, as we saw both Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro – on the seventh lap – suffered quick and large bumps with the air fence, this was followed in the press addressed the qualifying conference.
Miller and Franco Morbidelli both shared their views on the Jerez space, while this was also discussed in the Security Commission on Friday.
Starting with Morbidelli, he said: “We discussed this in the security commission yesterday. They will try to enlarge the run-off zones, there are a few corners that are made first – round seven not included, but over time.” I think this route will increase safety.
“It’s a great track, it’s amazing to drive here. It’s great taste to drive here, but it’s true that the run-off areas are pretty tight.
“This morning I had a moment myself. I got out on the track and had no brakes at turn six. You were cold or I was shaking, I don’t know, but I can tell you that the wall hit me very quickly came to. ” . “
When asked the same question, Miller used several examples of other tracks like Aragon and the type of gravel it uses to reduce speed and the jumping effect.
Miller added: “As Franco said, we discussed this yesterday. For me, the biggest thing that needs to happen here is the gravel.
“The gravel here is as big as a river rock. There are large pieces of gravel and you can tell that nobody really goes into the gravel.
“They always bounce up and it’s not really soft like some places like Aragon where it’s really soft and you can fluff it up. It slows you down a lot faster.”