Jack Miller looks to bounce back from Mugello result and Karel Hanika aims to continue good work.

Jack Miller and Karel Hanika come into the second Spanish round of the Moto3 World Championship season off the back of contrasting results. The Australian will be out to increase his lead at the head of the overall standings, medicine whilst his rookie teammate has his sights set on a second consecutive Top 10 finish. Both Red Bull KTM Ajo riders are confident and prepared following a positive day of testing last week at Mugello.

The Catalan Grand Prix will be a home race of sorts for Jack Miller, for sale who this year resides just over 100km away in Tarragona. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider has had good times at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with his first point taken there in 2011 and a best result of seventh from last season. The Australian hopes to be high up the order this weekend at one of his favourite tracks, in order to put a first DNF of the season firmly behind him.

Karel Hanika has still not had any first-hand experience of this weekend’s venue, as for the third consecutive time this season he will debut at a track. Happy with his Top 10 finish at Mugello and the improvements made on the subsequent testing day, the Czech rider hopes to continue progressing in his rookie season and stay with the leading group for the duration of the race.

The Catalan Grand Prix will be the seventh round of the season and the second of four to take place in Spain. Practice begins on Friday at 9am, with the race starting at 11am on Sunday.

Circuit information – Barcelona-Catalunya
Length: 4.727 m / 2.937 miles
Width: 12 metres
Left corners: 5
Right corners: 8
Longest straight: 1.047 m / 0.651 miles
Constructed: 1991
Modified: 1995

Jack Miller

“I have good memories of Barcelona. There was where I took my first World Championship points, and last year wasn’t bad at all for me. It is one of my favourite tracks, where my results have always been favourable, so I hope that this year is the same. It is a little different to Mugello; I think it is more suited to my style as it has some hard braking sections. I can’t wait to get there and to ride with some of the new settings that we tried out last week at Mugello. I think that we can be stronger and faster than we were at the last Grand Prix.”

Karel Hanika

“I’ve never ridden at the circuit, so once again it’s going to be a first time at a track for me. It seems really nice, so I hope to be able to get a result similar to those that we have been taking recently. Both at Le Mans and at Mugello we worked very well, so we are going to continue working in the same way. Session by session our lap times keep improving, and this is important. We also have to work on the setup of the bike, using the base that we found at the Mugello test. I am very happy with the work that we did in Italy and am confident that in Barcelona we can do the same. The aim will be the same: Get into the Top 10 and keep amongst the frontrunners.”