The factory Honda team, led by Zarco and Takumi Takahashi, took victory at the famous grand prix venue on Sunday after eight gruelling hours.

It marked the 31st victory for Honda in the 46th running of the race.

Miller and Zarco went head-to-head in the race, exchanging some of the fastest laps on their production superbikes as the Australian tried to hunt his French opponent.

A rare Safety Car towards the end of the race reduced Honda’s lead to nothing. However, a scheduled pit stop ultimately cruelled Yamaha’s hopes after briefly leading.

All told, the #30 Honda led #21 Yamaha home by 34 seconds.

“We’re happy,” said Miller post-race.

“The boys rode fantastically.we did all we could. Johann and Takumi were on another level today.

“We did our max, we’ll come back again hopefully and do this again soon.”

The fastest lap of the race was set by Miller’s teammate Andrea Locatelli. The Italian rider praised their other teammate Katsuyuki Nakasuga.

“I’m pretty happy with this performance. We try to do our best,” said the WorldSBK rider.

“Nakasuga-san made the best thing that he can. Jack also. I did my best. We finished only second.

“I would like to try to win, but anyway, I think we did an amazing job. So we are to be quite happy. We did an amazing weekend.

“For me it was a first experience,” Locatelli added.

“I’m really, really happy. I want to say a big thanks to Yamaha to give me this amazing opportunity.

“Now I can say that maybe I made one of the hardest races in my life. My hand is completely done, so anyway.

“But good performance, good feeling on the bike for sure. I hope to come back in the future again because it’s an amazing experience. It’s an unbelievable track. So yeah, let’s see.

“I’m proud to be here and I’m proud to all the guys that are working hard all weekend.

“Also I made a good lap time in the race, so I think it’s also a new record lap of the race. So yeah, I need to be happy now we have summer holiday.”

Miller’s season continues with Pramac in MotoGP on August 17 with the Austrian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.