Jack Miller’s crash a “blessing in disguise”, top Yamaha in Malaysian MotoGP practice

An early accident turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Jack Miller went on to claim third place and top Yamaha during Friday practice for the Malaysian MotoGP.

Miller began the day with an early technical issue, then a low-speed crash in the final hairpin.

But that fall prompted a set-up that gave him the confidence to snatch third in the all-important afternoon session, behind only KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Honda’s Johann Zarco, for direct access to Qualifying 2.

“We didn't have luck on our side this morning. We had an issue with one of the bikes, and then I was just getting into my rhythm again on the second bike,” Miller told MotoGP.com.

“The hard front tyre is always a little bit critical on the edge, but [there was] kind of no warning [in the crash].

“Going in, everything felt under control. And then as soon as the slide stopped, it overloaded the front, and there was nothing I could do. I was on my elbow before I knew about it.

“It's very similar to a lot of the crashes we've been having as of late, so then we kind of tried something different [with the set-up].

“Maybe performance-wise it's not the ultimate move, but just to try and give me a little bit more feedback and make it a little less critical on that point.

“[The changes] were good because this afternoon I was able to get a little bit more feedback out of the front tyre, especially at the end there when I had to really push for a lap time.

“So [the crash was] a blessing in disguise, maybe."

Front confidence was all the more important with rain falling during the afternoon hour.

“Honestly, I was really nervous, because it was bucketing down during the session," he said.

“But I was able to get out on track thankfully at the end there. Diggia set a good marker for me, and I was able to chase him down and have a good Friday.”

The third place follows hot on the heels of Miller's front-row start at Phillip Island, where he finished fourth in the Sprint before crashing out early in the Grand Prix.

“We'll take it one step at a time," he said of challenging for another front row on Saturday. 

"Obviously, it was very nice to go straight through to Q2, so now we're trying to focus on tomorrow, trying to work on our pace.

“I feel like our race pace is already pretty good. There are some areas we can clean up. The bike is struggling to accelerate, even compared to Diggia there, out of Turn 4, 9, 14.

“So just try and get that transfer a little bit better, try and use the rear tyre a little bit more and see what we can do come qualifying.”

Phillip Island pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo was next best for Yamaha in fifth, with factory team-mate Alex Rins also moving directly into Q2. 

Miller’s Pramac team-mate Miguel Oliveira ended the day 18th.