MotoGP Sepang: Miller ‘slices through to sixth’ after ‘worst career start’

Ducati Lenovo’s Jack Miller was ‘happy enough’ to complete the Malaysian GP in sixth after finding himself at the back on lap one.

A difficult qualifying position was made twice as challenging after the Australian faced his ‘worst start’ in Grand Prix racing at the Sepang International Circuit on Sunday. Despite gaining ground off the line, Miller was boxed in then run wide in the first corer melee, finding himself 21st and with a lot of work to do in the 20-lap race.

“A race here in Malaysia is always pretty hard but when you start 14th and end up 21st exiting the first corner - it was probably my worst start in my grand Prix career!” Miller admitted from the Sepang paddock. “I kinda got sandwiched. Got a good jump off the line, went forward a row but wasn’t enough to creep in front of those boys. They came together, I kind of had to back out of it and that in turn allowed the guys that were up the inside to brake pretty deep so I got stuck on the outside and hung out to dry basically.

“Wasn’t ideal,” he continued. “I just had to try and slot back in, in a relatively safe place. I was being extra cautious, back there it’s kind of crazy but I was able to put my head down, keep my pace. I was able to ride a mistake free race throughout. Make some decent overtakes on a lot of guys and eventually I just had Marc [Marquez] there in front of me on the last lap.

“I was able to understand where I was stronger and make a move at turn four on the last lap so that was nice, you know, to have a little bit of a battle. The pace was good. I felt really good all weekend it was just a shame about the quali but we can’t get that one back.”

While Miller was enjoying slicing his way through the pack, the Ducati rider was still carrying