“Qualifying didn't go as I'd hoped” - MotoGP's Jack Miller chasing Suzuka 8 Hours turnaround
Jack Miller admitted Friday's Suzuka 8 Hours qualifying fell short of expectations after Yamaha ended the day almost half a second behind Honda.
The factory Yamaha team of Jack Miller, Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Andrea Locatelli were left playing catch-up to defending champions Honda during Friday's qualifying for the Suzuka 8 Hours.
Looking to go one better than last year's runner-up finish, the R1 riders finished fifth fastest, while HRC set the pace with its revised line-up of Jonathan Rea, Somkiat Chantra and Takumi Takahashi.
Miller, the only full-time MotoGP rider in the field following Johann Zarco's injuries, was third and fifth fastest in his qualifying sessions.
Suzuka uses the average of the fastest laps from each team's best two riders to determine Friday's qualifying order and entry into Saturday's Top 10 Trial.
WorldSBK rider Locatelli was the team's quickest rider with a 2m 4.971s, while Miller set a 2m 5.422s and Nakasuga a 2m 5.984s.
The average of Locatelli's and Miller's laps left the Yamaha Factory Racing squad 0.458s behind HRC.
“Qualifying didn’t go as I’d hoped,” Jack Miller admitted.
“I had a good feeling this morning during Free Practice when I was on used tyres, but I lost that in qualifying.
“The track surface is different from last year, and it doesn’t seem to match our base setup very well. We need to pinpoint the exact cause.
“I’ll be able to ride in the Top 10 Trial, but I’m not satisfied with fifth today.
“I’ll keep looking for where the speed is hiding during Night Practice, work on my riding a bit more, and see how things go tomorrow.”
Locatelli expressed similar sentiments.
“I did everything I could, but it wasn’t quite enough,” he said.
“The fact that I’m lacking a good feel overall might be because of the track resurfacing. The feel is quite different from last year, so we need to make some adjustments for the race.”
Nakasuga, who was part of Yamaha's most recent Suzuka-winning line-up in 2018, said:
“As a team, I feel like we’re coming together well, but it was a bit frustrating that we couldn’t turn that into results.
“I personally struggled with conditions that made it tough for me to set a fast lap time, but this is just qualifying. We’re totally focused on the race.
“While my single-lap time wasn’t quite there, our average lap time looked good, and our teamwork was solid. I think the race will be a different story.”
Night practice ended on a more positive note for Yamaha, with Nakasuga eighth in the Blue group, Miller fastest in the Yellow group and Locatelli topping the Red group with the quickest lap of the session.
Rain, which interrupted free practice earlier this week, is also a threat this weekend.
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