Jack Miller ‘not a fan of testing before racing’ at the same track

Jack Miller suffered a disappointing end to the Qatar MotoGP weekend as he crashed out of the lead group on lap two.

The KTM rider, who could come under intense pressure from rookie sensation Pedro Acosta regarding the factory seat in 2025, was scoreless throughout the weekend after missing out on points in the sprint race too.

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But refocused after a weekend off, Miller said: “Happy to be back here at Portimao. Looking forward to it, it should be a good weekend and I’m looking forward to putting Qatar behind us.

“We had decent pace there throughout the weekend but I wasn’t able to show it in both races.

“I had a good week at home regrouping, realigning to try and come here and show our full potential.”

After MotoGP held a test in Qatar prior to the opening round, Portimao will serve as a blank sheet for every rider as they take their new bikes to the Portuguese circuit without having tested there recently.

Asked if this could throw up different results due to less track time being available heading into the races, Miller said: “It always does. When you go and do two or three days before racing on the track everybody is hitting the ground running. 

“You are not trying to set the bike up after the weekend. I am not a fan of testing before racing on the track.

“The race weekend is like that and it’s part of the race weekend to understand the standard you are going to need and also working on the fly with your team to try and improve the bike between sessions.

“I think it will change a bit. The cream will always rise to the top. I think the podium will look the same anyway.

“But we’ll be alright though. We have made some significant improvements since Portimao last year so I’m looking forward to taking the 2024 KTM around Portimao.”

Portimao is one of the standout circuits on the calendar due to its unique characteristics.

A circuit that has staged exciting MotoGP races in the past, Miller believes this can be the case again although overtaking in MotoGP has become difficult no matter what track they are at, according to the Australian.

Miller stated: “Easy… [to overtake] no! It’s not easy to overtake at all in MotoGP but at least on this track you have some opportunities like turn 13, turn one, turn three and even turn five, there are some good opportunities but it depends on the guys around you.

“Like I said, it's difficult to pass in MotoGP. But as we have seen in the past, it creates some pretty decent racing.”

Miller’s team-mate Brad Binder showed how competitive KTM can be after securing two podium finishes in Qatar.

Looking to join Binder at the front this weekend, Miller admitted the mistake in the grand prix was ‘my fault’, but that he knows what he’s capable of.

“The mistake in the race was my fault,” began Miller. “I tried to turn too tight too early and laid it down.

“Missing all the wings on the right hand side and having the bike a bit twisted after didn’t help with lap times but I was still able to push and finish the race.

“I tried my best. Obviously, when we studied the data, left hand corners were pretty close to the boys up front but right hand corners we were suffering quite a lot.

“We know our level and we’ve had a week to sit at home and unwin, re-focus and realign before coming back this week.”