Jack Miller braced for ‘stressful’ Q1 battle at Argentine MotoGP

Jack Miller faces a ‘stressful’ battle to break out of Qualifying 1 at the Argentine MotoGP on Saturday.

The Pramac Yamaha rider, who progressed directly through to Q2 at the Thai season opener, began the Termas weekend with seventh place in FP1.

But Miller struggled to improve during his final time attack in the crucial afternoon session and was left in 14th place, albeit only 0.763s from leader Marc Marquez (Ducati).

"I felt good in terms of race pace, and in the afternoon I started working with the soft tyre, using a first one to find the best setup and then another two for time attacks,” Miller explained.

“I think I was doing decently, running in the high 1‘38”s after 10 laps. Then, when I went for my first time attack I felt great; the grip was incredible, and I thought, ’Wow, there is some grip around here!‘

“But when I switched to the second soft tyre, the feeling was the same as at the beginning of the session, and I couldn't improve.

“Well, we missed out on Q2 this time, but we have FP4 tomorrow to work on the bike and try to make it through in Q1.

“With guys like Morbidelli in there, it‘s going to be stressful, but I feel like we are close.

“We're on the right path, the bike isn‘t too far off from the others, and we‘re working hard to understand what works best for the YZR-M1."

Miller will now face a tense Saturday morning, needing a top-two finish in Q1 to secure a spot in Q2 pole position shootout.

Yamaha’s mixed fortunes

While Monster Yamaha’s Alex Rins (sixth) and Fabio Quartararo (eighth) secured direct entry to Q2, Miller’s team-mate Miguel Oliveira will also have to fight his way through Q1 after ending the day in 18th.

"The afternoon session was a bit difficult,” said the Portuguese. “I expected to improve much more on the second time attack, but then I got stuck behind Bastianini for two laps and had no chance to improve.

“Right now, our biggest challenge is during the time attack, as it seems like we need a few different ideas on how to set up the bike more efficiently to take full advantage of the new tyres.

“I feel that with the medium rear tyre, we are much closer. There‘s nothing too concerning, and let‘s not forget that this was the first real weekend where we could see if our base setup was working or not.

“So far, we haven't made many changes, but we‘ll probably have to start adjusting things more. It only takes a small improvement to make a big difference in lap time, so I‘m confident we can do a good job."