Jack Miller “goes the long way round” for top KTM, top five return

Jack Miller returned to the top five for the first time since round two in Portimao as he crossed the finish line as the leading KTM rider in the Austrian MotoGP Sprint.

The Australian kicked off a strong Saturday by leading Qualifying 1, then claimed fifth on the grid in the Q2 pole position shootout.

Despite a poor start, Miller kept that position for most of the Sprint, briefly reaching fourth after Marc Marquez crashed before losing a place to Silverstone winner Enea Bastianini.

“Enea getting me with two to go was a bit painful, but I tried to stick with him and maybe launch a little attack, but it wasn't to be,” said Miller, who nonetheless held off Pramac Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli and KTM team-mate Brad Binder.

“I made too many mistakes up at Turn 3. I didn't get away to the best start. Spun off the line and then kind of had to try and catch it and bounce off the clutch quite a bit. Gave it a hard time. 

"I don't know if we've bent a disc or something like that, but especially up at Turn 3 when I was downshifting into 1st, the thing would start hopping a little bit and I wasn't able to manage the engine brake like it should.

“I had three laps in a row there where I basically blew the apex of the corner, and I knew that was costly, especially in that fight with Enea when he was putting in some decent lap times towards the end.

“But happy to be back in that top five. It's been since Portimao.

“I'm feeling good this weekend. We had to go the long way round this morning with Q1 and Q2, but I was able to put in a decent time in both of those sessions. And then a decent result in the Sprint, so fingers crossed that'll set us up for tomorrow's race.

“I’ll give it all I can again and I hope our pace will be enough. I hope for a better start and it will be a long race.”

Binder revealed that a change of front forks had transformed his fortunes.

“It was only a 7th position but I caught the group in front of me and had a better feeling,” said the South African. “We clearly still have room to improve, and it will be all about managing the tyre tomorrow. I feel I am pretty good at that so hopefully we can put the race together for a strong result.”

Wild-card Espargaro – riding a heavily modified prototype RC16 - was left ruing a fall during Q2, when he felt a second row was possible, but was content to claim a genuine top ten finish, with only Marc Marquez crashing out ahead of him.

“I think we had the possibility for the second row but things don’t always go as you want until you cross the line!

“The Sprint went OK but, of course, the conditions are very different to testing! Judging the braking, slipstream and even the physical side: it took me some time to get it back.

“We made really good times at the test but I also had to manage the riding front tyre temperature today. Anyway, we have good information for tomorrow and in general.

“Top ten was good. I am satisfied… Even if we always want more.”