Miller actually ‘as surprised as you’ by Portuguese MotoGP lap record
After five years as a Ducati rider, Miller will join KTM’s factory team in 2023. However, the transition this winter was a difficult one as the RC16 lagged behind its rivals during testing as all the riders struggled with rear grip.
Finished 12th in FP1 at the Algarve International Circuit, Miller made a shocking leap with a lap time of almost 1.9 seconds to record a 1:37.709 in FP2. Finishing as the only KTM rider to advance directly to Saturday’s pole shootout qualifying session.
“Honestly, I’m just as surprised as you are, especially when it comes to time,” Miller said Friday.
“[I’m] no [surprised by] It’s been improved, but it’s what it was then. I didn’t expect 1 minute and 37.7 seconds, but here we go.
“We’ve been working very hard. By ‘we’ I mean mostly engineers. I’ve been fucking in Australia for the last four months.
“They listened to everything I said, my comments, my wishes and requests.
“And we’ve already taken a big step with the new engine. Then there’s also the new chassis, and the change in philosophy in terms of electronics and other things.
“We have taken a big step forward. Exit by exit, session by session, I feel like I can own this bike and start leveraging the strengths of KTM.
Jack Miller, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo credit: Gold and Goose / motorsport images
“The feeling in the front on the entry gives you a great reading from the tyres, which gives the front a lot of confidence lap after lap and corner after corner.
“I had some moments today, the bike gave me a really great feeling and I saved the crash.”
Saturday will give the field its first race action in the new Sprint Contest for 2023, but Miller is holding back hopes following Friday’s heroic performance.
“We will focus on doing our job,” he replied when asked if he could start thinking about competing for the podium this weekend. I didn’t expect 1:37.7 today, it’s very nice to have it.
“It is also very nice to be able to use the soft front tire on the KTM for the time attack, as we were doing with Ducati. [KTM] have done in the past.
“So let’s see what we can do in Q2 tomorrow. Our target today was to be in the top 10 and we achieved it by a good margin. Then the sprint race is full attack. become”
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