A 1:59.517 on his penultimate lap meant Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) concluded Day 2 at the Sepang Test third on the timesheets.
Miller, who finished 0.620 off Maverick Viñales’ (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) late surge to P1, continued to find his feet with the MotoGP™ bike again after the winter break, playing around with different settings. And in general, despite another crash at Turn 9, the Australian was pleased with his second day in Malaysia.
“Today we’ve just been working through the motions, trying to get used to the bike again, adjusting settings and playing around with different things and different geometry and suspensions settings,” began Miller.
“The bike is feeling good at the minute, especially in the last couple of runs I was able to crack into the 59s like two runs before with the medium on and then yeah we tried with the soft at the end and it was good. I have a little bit more up my sleeve, I wasn’t quite happy with the lap. In general it was a positive day for us, we went through a few test items – apart from the crash at Turn 9, two times in two days, so hopefully tomorrow we can stop the tradition.”
Thursday saw ‘Jackass’ try out a similar seat until to what Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) used at Ducati last season. So what did Miller make of that?
“They asked me to test it, I tested it and I liked it. I can ride without it, but I feel… let’s say it doesn’t affect me and it can only be positive. In some of the fast direction changes, you seem to have more grip on the bike so it’s quite good.”
Positive feedback then from the number 43 rider, but what is on the agenda for the third and final day at the Sepang International Circuit?
“We’ve got a lot of things to test so tomorrow is going to be a busy day. We have a few different things in terms of aerodynamics and also a race simulation, it will be difficult because it’s so hot here, but yeah just a race simulation and some small things like that.”