Jack Miller details turnaround in form after strong Friday in Sepang

The KTM rider credited a return to the ‘normal’ rear tyre casing, after experiencing some difficulties on the stiffer heat-resistant construction, for feeling instantly comfortable at Sepang.

“From the get-go, I felt pretty good. It's always nice putting the standard tyre back in,” Miller told MotoGP.com.

“I struggled a lot last weekend [in Thailand] with the other casing that we have for those sorts of tracks - Thailand, India, [Indonesia] and Spielberg.

"So it was nice to, let's say, have my normal bike back.

“The bike’s working really well around here, it’s quite a different bike to what we rode here at the beginning of year [in testing], so we’ve definitely moved in the right direction.

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“My pace was good in FP2. I was able to put some consistent laps together and keep it in the ‘59s. I feel relatively comfortable but everybody's going extremely fast.

“So we'll have to try and find obviously a little bit more overnight, but nonetheless pretty happy to be back in the top three.”

Team-mate Brad Binder was just a fraction slower than Miller in fourth, completing a strong turnaround after KTM’s struggles in the February pre-season test.

“Really good. I’m happy,” Binder said. “I was actually surprised, the lap times came quite nicely and it’s not always like that here. I was on a really quick lap when I lost the front, so I think I’ve got a little bit more.

“It wasn’t working at all [here] at the test! So clearly, we’ve done a good job since and made positive steps. We’ve got the bike working in a much better way, especially on new tyres.”