Miller: I needed binoculars to see Marquez after first lap!

Jack Miller says he needed binoculars to see Marc Marquez after moving into second place on the opening lap of the Aragon MotoGP but was satisfied with his first podium since the Brno round.

The Pramac Ducati rider produced a stunning first lap to take second place but by Turn 12 he felt Marquez had already escaped on his charge to victory at the Aragon MotoGP.

Needing to measure his race pace to look after his rear tyre, Miller briefly dipped back to fourth place at two-thirds race distance but after seeing Andrea Dovizioso charge ahead of Maverick Vinales it triggered his own late attack for the rostrum.

The Australian rider dived underneath Vinales under braking for Turn 1 at the start of the final lap and held off the factory Yamaha rider to clinch his third rostrum of the season.

Assessing his race as a whole, Miller had been hopeful of challenging Marquez but knew once the Repsol Honda rider had sprinted clear early on there was no catching the reigning MotoGP world champion.

“I got a pretty decent start in behind Fabio for the first two sectors and Fabio was a little cautious, not too bad, but a little bit cautious on the first couple of corners,” Miller said. “I knew I had to get past him quickly if I wanted to try to get Marc, but by the time I did at Turn 12 I needed binoculars to see Marquez, that’s how far he had gone already, and I said ‘nah, that’s yours mate’, so I tried to ride around by myself.

“I knew the pace as I did a 17-lap run in FP4 with him and I knew my pace and what it needed to be so I stuck at the numbers. When Maverick came past I noticed he was spinning quite a bit especially where he passed me in a few other places too so I stayed patient and pushed where I knew I could push.

“I was able to manage the tyre and I started getting a little nervous when Dovizioso came past but I could see on the TV on the exit of Turn 7 where we were in the group and how much of  a gap we had so I tried to stay as patient as I could.

“Once he got past Maverick I knew I had to pounce as Maverick’s left side of the rear tyre was completely gone so I was able to do that and I am really happy to be back up here. It’s an awesome way to start the flyaways now.”

With five races to go, Miller has cut Fabio Quartararo’s advantage in the Independent riders’ standing to six points and is eager to take that title as part of his overall targets for 2019.

“My main target is to be top Independent. Fabio is making me work for it really hard this year but we are doing a good job and we are coming to some good tracks now,” he said. “Thailand, Japan and especially Phillip Island where I am looking forward to getting there to see what we can do.

“I want to focus on doing the best we can. We were top Ducati for most of the weekend this weekend so I feel I am doing a good job.”