Miller: I was giving it some! Rear just let go really quickly

Jack Miller suffered a highside crash at turn three, but not before putting his factory Ducati second on the grid for tomorrow’s Catalan MotoGP. 

The winner in Jerez and Le Mans had to go through Q1 following a difficult FP3 session, but the Australian used the first qualifying session to good effect - setting a time of 1:38.900s. 

In the Q2 session, Miller’s time came on what should have been his penultimate flying lap, however, the Ducati rider suffered the big crash just three corners later at turn three. 

"To be honest, I’ve come out of it rather well for a turn three highside. I did my fastest lap and then the next one - only had one tyre for the Q2 - and the next one, usually the tyre is a little better on the second lap and yeah, it just let go really quickly," said Miller about the fall. 

"I was giving it some, but it just let go really quickly. Unfortunately, TC (traction control) wasn’t able to save me on that one and sent me over the front, but I came out of it pretty good to be honest. 

"I landed on my back and sort of slid off so it wasn’t too bad. We’re back here on the front row. Definitely found a heap of pace in FP4, we made a good step with the bike, so I feel relatively excited for tomorrow’s race especially now starting from the front row. 

"I think it’s going to be crucial for tomorrow’s race and hopefully we’ll be able to take it to Fabio [Quartararo]." 

Many riders lamented the low grip conditions of day-one but Miller said that it improved today, while ‘setup’ improvements were the reason for his solid FP4 pace.

Miller added: "For sure the grip level I think has improved a little, but also our setup has improved quite a considerable amount. 

"My pace was good, I did a seventeen lap run - I don’t know why I did that! But it felt good out there. I was able to keep in the 40s, okay, not 39s like Fabio but, normally in the race I’m able to find that little bit extra. 

"If you can go and do a seventeen lap run in FP4 when you don’t really have to, it means you’re working well and I’m having fun at least, so that’s a good thing."