Australia’s Jack Miller hailed a ‘good day’ at Motegi in Japan as the Red Bull KTM rider was back in podium contention, narrowly missing out on third place to Francesco Bagnaia.
Miller, who qualified on the front row in third on the factory RC16, tried everything he could to fend off Bagnaia’s challenge, but the reigning world champion eventually squeezed past with two laps left when Miller ran slightly wide.
Nonetheless, the 28-year-old – who won at Motegi in 2022 for Ducati – was content with the result, although Miller is hoping for more in today’s Grand Prix.
“We’re never satisfied are we – we’re always striving to be better – but it was a good day, especially after the couple of weekends that we’ve had,” Miller said.
“It’s nice to ‘right’ the script I guess I could say and put in a solid result, and to be there fighting was nice.
“Still suffering lately a little bit on the last part of braking and I was getting some moments – I was pushing pretty hard on the brakes.
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“That was eventually what was my downfall and I was losing too much time out of [Turn] 5 going towards [Turn] 6, accelerating through the tunnel, so we need to work on that.
“Even to Jorge [Martin] and Brad [Binder] when they were in front me, I was losing a tenth and a bit through there, if not more,” added Miller, who last stood on the rostrum in the Sprint race at the German Grand Prix in June.
“Then I was trying to force it through the next sequence of corners to try and catch back up what I had lost.
“I think if we can tidy a few things up, we’ll be in good shape.”
Recounting his battle with Bagnaia, Miller said the Ducati Team rider appeared to have more traction in the final part of the 12-lap race.
“I knew Pecco was there, I could hear him obviously, and I was doing the best I could to brake as late as physically possible, not to allow him to try and pass me on the brakes, but also trying not to run wide,” said Miller, ninth in the standings at Round 14.
“Going down the hill, she started bouncing and I’m going, ‘please don’t do this to me’, but I ended up leaving the door open for him to come through.
“Once he came through, it seemed he had a little bit more grip; it’s a tendency for us, we kind of drop [grip] a little bit earlier as we’ve done in a lot of races this season, but then we’re able to keep that pace, whereas the other guys maybe it’s [tyre drop] a little bit later, but it seems like a more radical drop than we get.
“I’m really interested in that department [to see] what happens tomorrow in the long race, but mainly I was happy to be back fighting there and like I said, if we can tidy a few things up for tomorrow, we’ll be in good shape.”
Miller’s Red Bull KTM team-mate Brad Binder chased home Jorge Martin to claim the runner-up spot.
The South African rider is fourth in the championship, 51 points behind VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi.
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