Miller: ‘Big step’ with 'longer' KTM - 'not on its nose, not on its arse'

The new KTM rider was fifth in opening practice at the bumpy Texas track, where he finished on the podium for Ducati last season, then snatched the final direct Q2 place with tenth (+0.663s) in the afternoon.

“Scraped through by the skin of our teeth,” smiled Miller, who sent title leader Marco Bezzecchi to Qualifying 1 by 0.037s. “I felt pretty good from the get go this morning, despite crashing on an out-lap, twice, in the same corner! Apart from that, everything else has been good.

“We’ve kind of got a base from Portimao for [tracks with] really decent grip. Then we got a base in Argentina with really shitty grip. So now we’ve got sort of both ends of the spectrum covered and can kind of pick something in the middle.

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“Straight off the bat this morning the bike was working relatively well. We still need to just polish our setting a little bit, play around with the geometry or the spring rates a little bit more to try and get it dialled in.

“I was having a lot of moments. It was better this afternoon, but especially with that wind, through the triple right [hander] I felt like maybe that wasn't working as good as it should today.

“So things to learn, things taken on board and at least we're going straight through [to Qualifying 2] tomorrow so that's a positive. I mean, we'll already be like [two] rows further up than we were last week!” added Miller, who qualified just 16th at Termas but is now guaranteed to start no lower than 12th for the pair of Austin races.

While only starting his third race weekend in orange, Miller is now confident that some of the set-up concepts he and his crew chief brought with them from Ducati - such as a longer wheelbase and the electronic strategy - are paying off for the RC16.

Such ideas also look to be benefitting team-mate Brad Binder, who was eighth quickest on Friday.

“We're pretty long, definitely,” Miller said of the wheelbase. “Compared to what [KTM] were running here last year, we are massively long. Is it better? I think the results of today already show that...”

“The thing's not on its nose on the brakes and it's not on its arse under acceleration,” he explained of the advantages. “We're definitely still a hell of a lot shorter than the Ducati. But we've definitely made a big step. That was one of the main things. I'm pretty happy with that. I think Brad's pretty happy with it too.”

Binder, who finished twelfth at COTA last year, said: “I’m quite happy considering how difficult things were for us here last season. The biggest point we’ve improved is braking and getting the bike stopped. [Jack’s] bike is a little different to mine, but in general we have more margin in the braking zone [now] and haven’t really lost any turning, so that’s a bonus."

Binder took a shock victory from 15th on the grid in the recent Argentine Sprint race, with Miller's best result so far this season a close fourth in the Portimao sprint.