Jack Miller was the last driver to get straight into Q2, with the 10th fastest time in the practice session counting towards qualifying.
The Australian KTM rider said in a debrief that he was happy with the progress on the Austrian machine, namely the inclusion of the new carbon frame, and was pleased with a positive Friday despite a crash with the new bike:
– Happy enough with the work we did this Friday, the pace was good. I was putting a little more pace on at the end and trying a few different things, breaking a little bit later at the end of the inside straight and trying to gain a little more cornering speed, especially in the middle of the corner. The front ran away from me, and I was just trying different things, but I think that corner (end of the inside straight) is going to be one of the ones you’re going to have to carry throughout the corner, so you’re going to keep a lot of weight on the front tyre. Anyway, I felt good, the bike is working well, unfortunately we couldn’t use the new one after that, it had some damage after the fall and it would take a long time to try to repair. So, I jumped to the other one, but it continued to work well.
The #43 also said that the Misano tests were beneficial for the evolution of the RC16 and for his understanding of the bike, hoping to be able to maintain the good feelings until the end of the season:
– From the first outing here, we had a clear understanding, and I also had similar feelings to that Monday at Misano, so we’re going to make sure it stays that way until the end of the year, but you know we’ve taken a step forward and can challenge these guys again in terms of grip, and in the areas where we’re looking for something. I think we’ve taken a step. Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of electronics, but in terms of mechanical grip, we found a lot today and it’s very positive for us, for me and for Brad.