Jack Miller on Misano KTM frustrations: "I feel like I can't push anymore"
Jack Miller talks through his difficult sprint Saturday at Misano
KTM's Jack Miller says it feels like he "can't push anymore" on the RC16 at Misano after struggling to 15th in the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint having qualified 19th.
The Australian endured a dismal Q1 on Saturday morning when he ended up 19th on the grid, while team-mate Brad Binder topped the session and went on to put his KTM fourth.
From the back row of the grid, Miller couldn't do much to make progress as his march took him to 15th and almost 20 seconds off the win.
Miller feels he is "stuck" in terms of pace around Misano compared to what he did at the San Marino GP and that he is "on the wall for my riding".
“It’s like a tenth off what I did last week in the sprint, so it seems like we’re sort of just stuck around that number and that’s how it feels,” he said.
“I feel like I can’t push anymore, I feel like on the wall for my riding, for my feeling with the bike. So, we’ve got to try and find something to move that bar.”
Tyre warm-up thwarts Binder
Off the line, Binder jumped up to second ahead of eventual winner Francesco Bagnaia, but by the end of the opening lap he had been relegated to fifth and then to sixth on the next tour.
By the end of lap three, Binder was already 2.5s off the lead and would end up 8.1s back at the chequered flag in sixth.
He blamed this on not being able to get his medium front tyre up to temperature quick enough and nearly crashed twice on the first lap.
“My speed was decent and to do a 1m30.6s in Q2 was my quickest lap around here,” Binder said.
“I messed up the sprint because it took too long for the front tyre to come up to performance and I almost crashed and went wide in Turn 11.
“I needed two laps to get my feeling and then I could ride OK.
“It still wasn’t fast enough but at least I could push and I’m happy enough with the result because I thought I had ruined the race by the time we go to Turn 6 for the first time.
“Tomorrow I definitely need to work on that tire situation, and we should be pretty good.”
He added: “Honestly, I was really lucky to save a crash at Turn 6 on lap one, and then again at Turn 11 I almost crashed again.
“So, super lucky to stay on the bike.”
KTM team manager Francesco Guidotti called it a “bittersweet Saturday”, stating: “Brad took P1 and then P4 in the two qualifying sessions, one of the best outcomes this year and we cannot complain about that.
“He also had a great start but then struggled with the front tyre temperature for the first laps and missed the chance to go with the leading group.
“Jack missed Q2 on Friday by a few milliseconds. He couldn’t find a lap today and then a Sprint race from the back is a tough deal. We’ll try to be better tomorrow.”
