Jack Miller: "When I looked up the lights were going out!"
The Australian made his front row count by battling Francesco Bagnaia for the lead at Turn 1, despite almost missing the red lights going out.
Miller explained that a tear-off had distracted him on the start line as the race got underway:
“I was in a bit of a rush, normally you have your little routine that you sort of go through and I ditched a tear-off when I got to my grid spot and I saw the thing sort of blow up. I tried to flick it out the back, and it kind of blew forward and into the bike. I looked where it was and sure enough, it was underneath me.
"So I bent down and picked that off and I’d done all the other necessary adjustments, then right as the lights came on I thought ‘have I pressed the launch control or not?' so I looked down - I’d done it but when I looked up the lights were going out!”
- Jorge Martin on double victory pass: "It was close to a crash!"
- Marc Marquez: “Basically the bike was a disaster”
Battling Bagnaia for the lead in the early laps, the race revealed where the weak point was for the Red Bull Factory KTMs with team-mate Brad Binder also struggling in the same run of corners that eventual winner Jorge Martin took the lead.
With no danger behind and clear in third, Miller knows what needs to be worked on for the Sunday race:
“It was a lot of fun battling with them, as you saw a lot of work to be done in the third sector, turns 9-10-11, where I’m struggling a bit. But the rest of the track we seem to have the bike working really well. Really strong through sector one, strong through sector two, but letting it go through sector three.
"I think with the job we’ve done today we’re looking forward to working on that tomorrow”.
The double overtake by Martin on Miller and Bagnaia was almost inevitable as Miller struggled to work out how best to improve that section of track on the fly:
“I was I think the road block there that caused that whole situation as, like I said, I was quite slow, we haven’t used the medium or the hard front tyre all weekend, so I was definitely pretty careful at the Waterfall - I didn’t feel like tumbling down it.
"Throughout the rest of the lap I felt like I could make metres on the boys, well Pecco, I didn’t get to see all that much of Jorge!
"Once he hit the front he bolted and Pecco was able to eke out every lap just a few bike lengths in the change of direction, then the speed carried down the hill. So some work left, but happy with the way the bike is performing."
