Jack Miller takes fastest time at Spanish track, with Karel Hanika eighth quickest

Following swiftly on from last week’s testing activities, Red Bull KTM Ajo were back in action this Tuesday for a third consecutive week of preseason testing. Jerez was the venue, and Jack Miller and Karel Hanika were in good form on Day 1. Miller took the fastest time of the day onboard his KTM, with Hanika eighth on the combined timesheet.

The track was in mixed condition, with a half-wet, half-dry surface. That meant that the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders missed out on the opening three hours of testing, undergoing only a few laps in order to regain their feel for their bikes. In the second session of the day, Miller and Hanika were able to get down to business, developing the setups for their KTM machines with every lap. The Australian took the fourth best lap  —1:48.115—, whilst his rookie teammate clocked a 1:49.388 which gave him twelfth.

Both riders improved their times dramatically in the afternoon session. Miller headed the timesheet in the early going, and was able further lower his best lap to take a final 1:46.975 —making him the fastest man on Tuesday. Hanika, meanwhile, took over a second off his best time, to finish eighth with a 1:47.960 —putting him inside the Top 10.

This second official test for Moto2 and Moto3 continues tomorrow and Thursday at Jerez.

Combined Standings – Day 1
1. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:46.975
2. Isaac Viñales (KTM) 1:47.277 +0.302
3. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 1:47.471 +0.496
4. Niccolo Antonelli (KTM) 1:47.480 +0.505
5. Romano Fenati (KTM) 1:47.735 +0.760
8. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:47.960 +0.985

Jack Miller –  Audio
“We definitely can improve a lot more. We have many little points that we can make better, but overall it was a very, very good day today. I’m really happy with how the bike is working and with how we set up the bike today. For tomorrow I just need to be a little bit more consistent; I’m putting in some good laps, but it’s still not perfect and we can still improve a lot. We are going to have a lot more stuff to test tomorrow, but consistency is my main goal and I won’t be going out too aggressively. Sometimes I was a little overaggressive today and made mistakes as a result. I want to get my lap times down, and we need to keep positive and keep working in the same way as at Valencia. We’ve been doing a really good job so far.”

Karel Hanika – Audio
“Today we did a really good job. We didn’t put in a lot of laps but finally I think we found a good setup. Obviously we still need to work a lot tomorrow and over the rest of the days remaining in preseason. Today the weather was not very good but I think that if tomorrow it’s better we can improve. I’m happy with how today went. I think that my wrist is not really a big problem now, and it was just in the last hour that it was a little bit tired. In any case, it is in much better shape than in Valencia. In a few days it’ll be 100% ready.”

*Audio solely for radio use