Jack Miller ‘chopping the gas’, reveals ‘plan for tomorrow’

The newly married 27-year-old, who has scored more points than any other rider over the last three rounds, struggled to get the front of his factory Ducati loaded into the fast Phillip Island corners in FP2 but has a plan for tomorrow.

“Not the ideal first day but I’ve had worse,” Miller said. “I felt good this morning but then this afternoon, especially with the wind, I could not get the front loaded into the fast corners.

“We have some ideas of what we need to change but it is just one of these things with Phillip Island. You almost have to set the bike up completely differently to any other track, because there are so many corners where you are entering without loading it with the brakes.

“But I feel good. I think we have a decent plan for tomorrow. I just hope the weather stays good enough for us to have another time attack in the morning.”

• Australian MotoGP, Phillip Island - Free Practice (2) Results

Miller's plan: 'Raise the pivot, get more chain force'

Miller's Saturday morning set-up plan will involve: “We went long, just to try and get the thing more stable and it was just creating more stroke. The idea [now] is basically to raise the [swingarm] pivot, get a bit more chain force and try and put a bit extra load on the front in general.

“That was the biggest issue today. The only time I could get it to load was by chopping the gas completely, to get the weight to transfer [forward], and then turning the bike with the rear.

“So we know what we’re going to do.”

The Motegi winner added: “Being 0.5s off around Phillip Island and you’re 13th! That’s the way it goes. But we’ll be alright and get it sorted for tomorrow.”

Team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, currently just two points behind title leader Fabio Quartararo, was eighth fastest and therefore inside the provisional top ten for direct Qualifying 2 access.