Miller qualifies an impressive second at Jerez
Australia’s Jack Miller has recorded his first front-row start in KTM colours after a thrilling wet-dry qualifying for the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.
Miller looked on course for pole, but had to settle for second, after being pipped 0.221s by Aleix Espargaro, who put his Aprilia on pole with a 1:37.216 at the death.
The Aussies previous best starting position for KTM was fifth at the Portugal season opener.
Light rain moments before the green light arrived to open Q2 turned the session upside down and as expected, the on-track action was thrilling.
Provisional pole changed hands 14 times in just 15 minutes until Espargaro blitzed his final lap to snatch P1 ahead of Miller.
Despite missing out on pole, Miller was thrilled with the result, which opens up countless opportunities to chase add a KTM win alongside his successes for Honda and Ducati
“I gave it a good crack and I am really happy to have my first front row with KTM,” he said.
“It is a hard track to pass on, so this is a major bonus for the rest of the weekend.”
Reflecting on the stresses of the session, Miller revealed how delicate the decision was to either stay on slicks or bolt on wets.
“I was unsure because the rain was on again, off again,” he recalled.
“I looked at the track and I was convinced to go with wets and then 30 seconds later I thought we were going dries.
“It looked so dark over Turn 1, so I thought I would do at least one lap on the slicks and was able to bust out a lap.
“Then the rain eased off and the pace was getting hotter and hotter at the end.
“Each lap you were pushing your luck more and more with the kerbs just hoping they were ready at that point.”
Prior to the thrilling Q2, big names such as championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia and Yamaha’s main man Fabio Quartararo fought 14 others to get the three Q2 berths available.
Eventually only Bagnaia and Brad Binder could sneak through with Bezzecchi forced to start from 13th after missing out by just 0.037s.
Despite the rain all riders aside from Alex Marquez and Binder tried their luck on the slicks and it proved to be a masterstroke.
Miller set the early pace with a 1:43.003, but the times started to tumble as it became a guessing game to who would score pole.
The KTM rider returned to the top and looked set to score his third career MotoGP pole only for Espargaro to fire an even better lap at the death.
Behind the top two is Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin, Binder and Bagnaia.
Returning veteran Dani Pedrosa continued to display strong one-lap pace to ensure three KTMs appeared in the top six.
The Sprint race is up next at 23.00 AEST.
2023 Spainish MotoGP Qualifying results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Group 1 | Group 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1m37.216s | |
| 2 | Jack Miller | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1m37.437s | |
| 3 | Jorge Martin | Prima Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m37.458s | |
| 4 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1m36.541s | 1m37.532s |
| 5 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 1m36.493s | 1m37.557s |
| 6 | Dani Pedrosa | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1m37.583s | |
| 7 | Miguel Oliveira | CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 1m37.596s | |
| 8 | Johann Zarco | Prima Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m37.616s | |
| 9 | Luca Marini | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 1m37.666s | |
| 10 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1m37.765s | |
| 11 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | 1m37.876s | |
| 12 | Alex Marquez | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 1m37.92s | |
| 13 | Marco Bezzecchi | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 1m36.578s | |
| 14 | Franco Morbidelli | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1m36.793s | |
| 15 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 1m36.967s | |
| 16 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1m37.072s | |
| 17 | Raul Fernandez | CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 1m37.164s | |
| 18 | Alex Rins | LCR Honda CASTROL | Honda | 1m37.256s | |
| 19 | Stefan Bradl | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1m37.297s | |
| 20 | Joan Mir | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1m37.346s | |
| 21 | Augusto Fernandez | GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 | KTM | 1m37.753s | |
| 22 | Jonas Folger | GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 | KTM | 1m38.492s | |
| 23 | Iker Lecuona | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1m38.582s | |
| 24 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati |
