Miller knew Quartararo would receive penalty, ‘we all know the rules'

Jack Miller has moved ahead of team-mate Francesco Bagnaia in the MotoGP world championship after claiming third place in Catalunya. 

Miller was promoted to third after the race following Fabio Quartararo’s penalty for straight-lining the turn one chicane. 

Asked if he was surprised to claim third, Miller said: "No not really. Yeah not really. First of all the race was going really good for me, I executed my plan more or less to perfection, got out front and felt fantastic. 

"I had a couple of lunges on Fabio [Quartararo], but I had already seen when Johann [Zarco] went past him he went straight on at the chicane, and we all know the rules.

"If you go through the chicane; I know for me even though I was braking really late I’d still make the chicane - because if not it costs you and you gotta drop a second or something like this or you get the long lap penalty. 

"When I saw him go through the chicane and go like that (open the throttle) and peel back in front of me I thought, ‘ooh, that’s a bit cheeky’, but it will be alright. 

"Then I had a couple of lunges at him because no one really wants to get a podium like this, but then on the last lap I was just locking the front too much and thought, ‘I’ll just get as close as I can be behind him’ and just see over the line. 

"It was a good day for us, we moved up a place in the championship, and yeah, gained on Fabio [Quartararo], lost on Johann [Zarco], so it’s six of one and half a dozen the other."  

The race wasn’t without problems for Miller though, as the factory Ducati rider suffered with front locking and also front tyre temperature whilst following other riders.

"At turn five I missed a gear later on and went wide, but once I was in the draft of the other guys I started to suffer a lot with the front tyre temperature," said Miller. 

"I had the light coming on pretty much straight away. I was trying everything I could not to sit in the slipstream, just trying to get some cold air on the tyre, but no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to drop which was playing on my mind a little bit. 

"I was able to manage the rear tyre especially when they were behind me at the beginning. I was being really, really gentle on the rear tyre just to be there at the end."