‘Helped me a lot’: Miller fast-tracking new MotoGP teammate

Jack Miller during the third day of MotoGP testing at Sepang.

Razgatlioglu was the fastest of the two rookie riders by the end of the three-day Sepang test, eclipsing Honda rider Diogo Moreira by just over a tenth.

The Turkish rider sat out the second day of testing alongside Miller and factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins amid safety concerns over the bike’s new V4 engine.

With that seemingly resolved, the trio resumed testing alongside Fabio Quartararo’s replacement Augusto Fernandez.

At the end of Day 3, it was Rins who was the quickest of the trio in 12th on a 1:57.580s that he set in the morning.

Miller was 17th with a 1:58.156s in the afternoon while Razgatlioglu put a 1:58.326s to his name to be 18th.

“It‘s still difficult for me and the learning curve is steep, but the feedback we‘re getting is positive and we‘re making progress,” said Razgatlioglu.

“I‘m trying to understand where I need to improve and also how much I need to adapt my riding style to this bike.

“Jack helped me a lot today — I followed him for a few laps to understand how to approach some corners that are still tricky for me.

“I was hoping to get into the 1‘57s and even though I felt fast, the lap time didn‘t come yet.

“But I‘m pushing every day to learn and improve, and I‘m already looking forward to continuing this work at the next test in Buriram.”

Miller, meanwhile, was happy to get back on track after a day sat on the sidelines.

“It wasn‘t an easy day, but these things are part of the process,” the Australian explained.

“If you expect everything to run smoothly, you‘re being naïve — we‘re pushing the most high-performance machines in the world to their limits.

“Sometimes you need to pause, reassess what‘s needed and then get back to work.

“Of course I would have liked a bit more from this test, but I really believe the bike still has plenty of potential.

“The last few days were busy, with a lot of parts going on and off the bike.

“The key is not just trying things, but properly analysing what works, what doesn‘t and where you can find a compromise for the future.”

Alex Marquez topped the third day of testing for Gresini on the satellite Ducati Desmosedici. He put 0.124s on factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi.

Five Ducati riders occupied the top six, with Fabio Di Giannantonio third for VR46, factory Ducati riders Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia fourth and fifth, while Franco Morbidelli was sixth.

Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez was seventh on his Arpilia, Pedro Acosta the leading KTM in eighth, Joan Mir ninth for Honda, and Enea Bastianini the last of the top 10 runners for KTM satellite Tech3.

Yamaha team director Massimo Mergali said discussions with the Japanese and Italian arms of the MotoGP squad determined the issue.

“It has been a productive test,” he said.

“We have been able to evaluate most of the items that we had scheduled to try here.

“We chose the main topics for this test, like chassis, rear arm, and aerodynamics, with which we will start the Buriram test – and this was the priority.

“Even though we were forced to temporarily halt the test due to a technical issue that occurred on Day 1, we were able to understand the cause and could finish today‘s test thanks to the big effort of the engineers here in Malaysia as well as in Japan and Italy.

“What we didn‘t have time for was fine-tuning the set-ups, which we will, of course, move to the Buriram Test.”

Results: MotoGP Sepang Test, Session 5

Results: MotoGP Sepang Test, Session 6