Miller 16th, ‘p****d off’ at soft ‘dramas’

Jack Miller was left to rue a strategy that led to him running the same soft rear tyre for FP2 in its entirety when he was sure “it wasn’t worth it,” a tactic that led to him ending the first day of MotoGP action in Barcelona in 16th.

The Australian was among the fastest riders in FP1, and assured journalists of his one lap speed. “I know I’ve got the speed to get in that top ten,” he said of the task he faces in this morning’s FP3 session.

However he admitted the afternoon deal “pisses you off” when it was clear his set-up and tyre were not matched, with Miller claiming he couldn’t tap the rear brake to stop the bike, such was the lack of grip.

“We had dramas with the soft,” he said. “I used it from the start [of FP2], they wanted me to do laps on it, but to be honest, it was just one of those softs that doesn't work. I knew it from the start, and it just got worse and worse.

“I was having moment after moment, and more high-sides on entry than anything, I couldn't use the rear brake. So I already wanted to change tyre, and they told me I needed to do another run on it.

“I just spent a little bit saying it wasn't worth it. I knew it already before the last run, but we wasted ten minutes of the session.

“We've got good pace, but like I said, it was just a tyre that didn't work. I don't feel the soft – from my opinion and from what I saw from Marc [Marquez], that he kept it on as well – if you go out there and blitz one or two laps, it seems to be alright. But if you do 15 on it, it doesn't seem to work real good at the moment.

“We'll have to wait and see if the track gets better or the track comes to a soft, but for the moment my feeling is my medium from the morning works much better.”

Does his current placing worry him? “No, unless the weather changes,” Miller said. “But for the moment, I know I've got the speed to get in that top ten.

“But it pisses you off, because when you know something like that is going to happen, and everyone is going to throw a tyre at it, and you're sitting there and we did all the morning session on a medium, all the afternoon session on a soft.

“I mean, yeah, we've got a great thing for the race, but I think we would have been better off saving the last four laps for another soft or something else. Because that one was a preheated soft as well. It was meant to be shit from the start, and it was.”

Through the year Miller has been using a specially shaped fuel tank that aids his body position when braking. Sporting a slightly modified design for this weekend, the 24-year old offered, “We've got the lips on the fuel tank.

“We actually got a new one this weekend, a lot lighter, that's not as big, just to hook your knees under it, especially at turn [ten], the hairpin, you just jam your knees under it and try to take as much weight off your hands as possible.

“You use your feet. So you push off your feet and you push your knees into the fuel tank and use that as a locking position to hold back. And basically the upper body weight gets taken by your arms rather than your whole weight.”