Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller was “very happy” after taking away a solid fourth place for the second year in a row from the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina.
Miller started from the middle of the second row in P5 and got a good launch, with the Australian embroiled in an “intense” battle for the podium positions. In the end, Miller would settle for fourth but nevertheless, the Ducati rider was more than content after he and his team put up a strong showing throughout the weekend in Argentina.
“Yeah quite hot today, we weren’t expecting that, we were expecting some rain. It was pleasant to have a dry race here, we haven’t had that for a while so it’s been nice,” began Miller, who crossed the line in fourth last season in mixed conditions.
“(It was a) great race, very intense battles there with Petrucci, Morbidelli and those guys,” continued the Aussie. “I enjoyed it a lot. But it cost me a little bit of time fighting with them. My strategy was always to save the tyres for the last laps and I did it quite well, I was able to pass Rins and Petrucci and Morbidelli, but it took too long to pass them. I needed too many laps. I was catching Dovi and Valentino but I wasn’t able to do it today but no I’m very happy, a big thank you to the team and it’s a big improvement from Qatar. Happy to get some points on the board and I’m looking forward to Austin.”
Miller took the chequered flag less than two seconds back from fellow Desmosedici man Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) which, after battling hard with the likes of Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), bodes well for the rest of the season as he continues to make strides on the GP19.
The battle for 2nd rages on! ????
— MotoGP™ ???????? (@MotoGP) March 31, 2019
This group is over 10 seconds behind @marcmarquez93! ????#ArgentinaGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/fHBEL7sF5E
“This is my first season on the factory bike so I’m just taking it step by step. We’ve been strong all weekend, both here and in Qatar. We’ve started on the right foot, but we just need to continue like this. Step by step getting closer to the podium and hopefully next time we can stand on it.”
The number 43 rider then congratulated fellow Australian Remy Gardner on his maiden Grand Prix podium in the Moto2™ race: “I just want to say a big congratulations to Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) today, it was amazing to see another Australian up on the podium, so I hope he has a great evening.”
Can the Australians mount more podium challenges in Austin, Texas at Round 3 of the season? The Circuit of the Americas plays host, a track Miller won at in 2014 in the Moto3™ class…