Jack Miller’s team boss suspects that he pushed too hard, too early when he crashed out of a podium position in the Le Mans MotoGP Sprint.
Miller had been among a minority who opted for the medium compound of Michelin front tyre for the 13-lap encounter, with 13 choosing the soft instead.
His Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team-mate Brad Binder was on the same tyre strategy and the South African would finish second despite starting only 10th.
Miller, however, quickly became a spectator.
Factory KTM Team Manager Francesco Guidotti said, “Bittersweet emotions today.
“Jack was third and suddenly crashed. We still need to check the data but maybe it was too early to push the medium tyre that much.
“Brad was on fire, as usual; he attacked at the beginning to be in the leading group and then made that fantastic double overtake.
“[Eventual winner Jorge] Martin had a gap but it was a clever race to stay in second. Another small brick in our decent wall so far.”
Miller himself, who was quickest in both Friday practice sessions and qualified fourth, remarked, “Unfortunate crash because we’d been having a strong weekend so far.
“I put the medium front on and it came-up a bit. I should have listened more to my own feeling with the bike because, from the get-go, I was struggling a bit, and on the second lap I wasn’t able to stay up.
“It was a shame but we learnt from it.
“We’ll see what we can do in the full race tomorrow because we had a great qualifying and the bike is really good here. I feel really strong.”
Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) won the Sprint, ahead of Binder and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Team).
After the morning Warm Up, the 27-lap French Grand Prix Race is scheduled to start tonight at 22:00 AEST.
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