With a time of 1'30.426, Miller climbed into ninth position, less than a second behind the best time of the first day. The Australian continued the work started at Sepang to improve his feeling with the front tire. He also tried a new Öhlins fork with positive results to finish 0,929 seconds behind Marc Marquez's best time.
To Jack Miller, « We started today with different settings than those we used at Sepang because Phillip Island is a very different circuit. Despite everything, I immediately found the good feeling I had in Malaysia. We even managed to improve it further thanks to the new Öhlins fork that I was able to test. We also changed settings at the front to improve handling, even if it means sacrificing a little stability when braking, which is not very important here.
“The wind caused us some problems this afternoon, especially in the faster turns, but it died down enough at the end of the day to allow me to improve my time. Today we had the best speed but tomorrow we must gain consistency in terms of pace to get closer to the best. It's a good first day, I hope to continue like this tomorrow. »
According to the team boss, Michael Bartholémy, “Jack has probably picked up the work he left at Sepang although Phillip Island is a circuit which requires very different things, both for the rider and the bike. Being in the running on two such different tracks is very positive, not to mention obviously the confidence gain for Jack. The gap with the best time is less than a second but Jack did not manage to bring together all his best partials today. If he succeeds tomorrow, he can reduce his delay. In any case, I am satisfied with today's result and optimistic for tomorrow if the good conditions continue. »
