Jack Miller “had to risk life and limb to hook into Pecco!" | "I apologised to Zarco"
Jack Miller: “I had to risk life and limb! I apologised to Johann because I dive-bombed him at 14 to hook into Pecco"
Often on the wrong side of the top ten cut-off for Qualifying 2 access on the Friday of a MotoGP weekend, Jack Miller made it through “by the skin of my teeth” at Misano - aided by a tow from Francesco Bagnaia.
The Australian snatched the crucial tenth place by just 0.1s at the expense of his Red Bull KTM team-mate Brad Binder.
“Happy enough with the day, got through by the skin of my teeth, which is the way it goes sometimes,” Miller said.
“I've been on the outer more recently than not, so it's nice to be on the other side of the cusp. Sorry for my mate here [Binder] but he'll have no dramas tomorrow.”
Quizzed on the tow from reigning champion and practice leader Bagnaia, Miller grinned:
“I had to risk life and limb to do it! I apologised to Johann on the way in, because I dive-bombed him at 14 on his out-lap [pictured] because I knew I wanted to latch on and try to hook into Pecco.
“It was good, I could see [Bagnaia] for the first sector so that was nice at least! And then he was gone! So we’ve got a little bit of work to be done."
Specifically, Miller said his former Ducati team-mate gained through "Turns 1 into 2, where he’s able to keep that momentum over the little washboard bumps. He's not trying to accelerate between those corners.. Less pitching on the bike.
"And like always here, in that third sector down the back straight he’s an absolute beast! I’ve seen the data and it’s rather embarrassing when you do an overlay and see how much speed he can carry through Turn 11.
"So we’ve got a few areas we can tidy up, but like I said, just happy to be through to Qualifying 2. Obviously, it's a decent weight off the shoulders for tomorrow morning and we can focus in FP3 on working on pace."
Miller also revealed he doesn't have any more revised swingarms available after both were damaged at Aragon.
"I don't have any of them left, I broke one and Zarco broke the other!" he smiled, referring to contact from the Frenchman in the Aragon Sprint.
"It just gave us a little bit more freedom to move around with the bike.
"A couple of the other manufacturers, Ducati included, are using a really long bike at the moment. Especially with the way that the tyres are working,
"I feel like that's sort of the direction we need to go; long and high. But we'll have to wait until the next variation comes back."
Binder said he is not yet at the limits of his current swingarm.
Rookie Pedro Acosta was the top KTM rider in sixth place on Friday.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
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