Team-mate Brad Binder finished fourth in the riders’ championship, as did Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in the teams’ championship, while KTM ended up second in the constructors’ standings.

In each case, only Ducati and its top three teams (Ducati Team, Pramac Racing, VR46 Racing Team) stood between KTM and title glory, with the Desmosedici continuing to be the benchmark motorcycle.

Miller used to ride one, until he moved to KTM for the 2023 season, but he thinks the RC16 is about to become the superior machine.

“I think they’ve [KTM] has done a fantastic job in the last couple of years, especially last year,” said the Queenslander as part of Red Bull KTM’s 2024 season launch.

“We only have to look back 24 months ago to where the position of the bike was and so on, and [now] to have it as one of the most wanted bikes on the grid…

“I think if you had your fairy godmother and a wish, if you weren’t able to get the red bike [Ducati], I’m pretty sure [KTM] would be the second on the list. And soon it’ll be the first.

“They’ve done a fantastic job in such a short amount of time in terms of their MotoGP history.

“If you look at the red bikes, between 2007 and 2022, those two championships, it’s a long time.

“And if you look at the history of KTM, their first full season was [2017], so where they are in such a short amount of time is amazing.

“I think it’ll just continue to get better. Brad had an amazing year last year and we had some great results from all of us on our days, whether it be myself, Brad or Augusto, and even Pol [GasGas riders Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro].

“We were able to bring home second in the constructors’ title against a brand that’s got eight bikes on the grid and we only have four, so we did fantastic there and I think this year we do even better.

“Myself personally for sure.”

Binder finished the Sepang pre-season test seventh in Miller 14th, although both were in fact glowing in their commentary of how the three days at the Malaysian Grand Prix venue went.

Miller, though, has endured the frustration of a full off-season to dwell on crashing out of the lead of last November’s Valencia Grand Prix.

“Well, I was ready to win in Valencia, but sadly we all know how that ended,” said ‘Jackass’ of 2024 goals.

“I’ve only been thinking about that for the last two and a half months!

“We got close there on the last day, but it wasn’t to be,” he added.

“But definitely the way 2023 sort of ended left me so hungry over this winter, eager to come back and achieve the goal I set last year: to become the first to win on three [bikes] and the third [rider to win] on a KTM.”

Next up is the Qatar test on February 19-20 (local time).