Italian Grand Prix weekend begins at Mugello with Jack Miller and Karel Hanika in fourth and twenty-second position, respectively, on the combined timesheet.

The sixth round on the Moto3 calendar, the Italian Grand Prix, started on Friday with the first two practice sessions. The first day saw the first drops of rainfall causing the riders to lose 7 minutes of work. Jack Miller took the fourth best time overall, whilst Mugello debutant Karel Hanika was twenty-second.

In the first practice session, Miller was just 0.238s off the top spot. Under a completely overcast sky, the Australian found his pace gradually and set his fastest lap on his last stint. Hanika was again one of the riders with the most laps completed -18-, making just one stop in his garage and looking for the fastest possible adaptation to the track. He placed twenty-third with a time of 2:01.088.

It took just two laps for the rookie of the Red Bull KTM Ajo team to improve his morning time in the second session. He clocked a 2:00.069 for twenty-first place. It was a time that he failed to improve upon, despite a good pace, because of the onset of rain ending the session seven minutes from time. Miller was also quick to improve, setting a fast pace and a top time of 1:58.783 -just 0.070s off the top spot- without the use of a slipstream.

Qualifying takes place from 12:35pm on Saturday. Jack Miller will have the chance to score his fourth pole position of the year and a sixth consecutive front row start of 2014. Meanwhile, Hanika will try to improve on his eleventh at Le Mans -his best grid position in the World Championship so far.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2)
1. Alex Marquez (Honda) 1:58.713
2. Romano Fenati (KTM) 1:58.714 +0.001
3. Alex Rins (Honda) 1:58.757 +0.044
4. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:58.783 +0.070
5. Juanfran Guevara (Kalex KTM) 1:59.021 +0.308
22. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:00.069 +1.356

Jack Miller – Audio solely for radio use – Audio

“It was a good day for us, in which we learned a lot. The bike is working very well, so I am very happy. We were quick even without catching a slipstream, which is very important at this circuit because you can improve by half a second with one. I think we can still be faster in the last section, on the straight, but I’m happy because we’re going better than I had expected -probably because we come onto it off a quite fast corner. The race will be tough, because the first ten are only 0.3 seconds apart. I am sure we can lower our times tomorrow.”

Karel Hanika – Audio solely for radio use – Audio

“We’ve started the weekend well, I like the circuit and we have been able to adapt fast to the track. It’s a track that I did not find hard to learn, because there are quite fast corners and these are the type that I like. There are still a couple of corners, in the first and second sectors, that I am finding a little tougher, but it’s only the first day. However, we can improve our time all around the track and, following the line of work we used today with some small changes to the bike, we will do so if the weather is favourable.”