Friday’s MotoGP practice saw Ducati’s Jack Miller finish seventh in preparation for the Le Mans FrenchGP.

Navigating a mix of very low temperatures and changeable weather conditions, the Jerez winner proved his confidence with the Desmosedici was unbounded as he battled his way to the top of FP1. Dominating the times by 1.5s, Miller was one of the few riders to mount slick tyres as the morning session drew to a close despite the constant threat of intermittent rain.

The Australian was greeted with a dry track for the afternoon’s FP2 and despite a turn-seven-crash, set the seventh fastest time overall, just 0.614 behind fellow Ducati rider Johann Zarco and pleased with the work done so far.

“I’m satisfied to be in the top ten” Miller said at the end of Friday.

“The track conditions today were quite tricky with the low temperatures, the rain and the wind, but it is normal here in Le Mans, and, luckily, we had at least one dry session this afternoon. Unfortunately, I crashed out in FP2, but I was pushing really hard and lost the front! Still, it wasn’t a bad day; we’ve learned a lot today, and I’m happy to be here at Le Mans, a track that I like a lot and where I always have a lot of fun riding on!”

“It’s extremely difficult to understand or gauge where you are, what times you need to do to even get a feeling with the track. It’s very, very difficult at this point in time because every lap is different, every session is different. You’re not able to go and push or able to do a run with decent pace.

“This morning was simply, I had to put the slick in, it looked like it was the best chance of the weekend, at that point in time, to do a lap-time, and to try and guarantee a spot in Q2. Thankfully the weather got better in the afternoon but that meant I needed to do it again, but I was able to work on my pace a little bit more in the afternoon.

“The wind it was very difficult, with the wind and how cold it was, really, really hard to get any temperature into the tyres. The crash was just me. I came in, changed the bike just a little bit, went out and I was just trying to get some more rolling speed in those couple of corners, in six and seven. Just to let the bike roll a little bit more but we haven’t quite yet got the setup right and I just asked a little bit too much, the front sort of bounced and just tucked. I tried to save it the best I can but I couldn’t. I was able to get back and at least get inside the top-10 which was the main goal for today - just to try in each session to stay inside that top-10 because it’s quite important, especially if qualifying will be in tricky conditions.

“The normal guys are there, Fabio, Zarco, the guys that go quick here are there, Pol, for example, he’s another one who really likes this place. I felt like my rhythm was not bad. I just really struggled, especially with the wind, to be consistent or even to put a lap together, all the way, I didn’t feel like I was able to do that today.

“I found a little bit of something in the last run and I was able to find some time then, just in terms of how to approach some corners with the wind, that were different to the past but we need to work on our set up just a little bit more but I think we’re not too far away.

Reflecting on last weekend’s success, the Australian admitted: “A win makes everybody a little bit less stressed, you’re always chasing that one but then we always want to get another one!

“The pressure is still there but I was able to do what I set out to earlier, and I’m able to get that done now, so it’s just focusing on trying to be better and better every weekend. Coming to a track like here, which I really like - it doesn’t like me so much but I enjoy riding here! I feel already a little bit less stressed coming here, I was stressed going to Jerez because it’s a track that I have struggled at in the past, I haven’t done well at in the past, so to get that out of the way with a victory was a bonus. Being here, going to Mugello, Barcelona, places that I enjoy riding and are a lot of fun on the MotoGP bike, definitely releases some stress, and we’re still only four races into the year, now starting our fifth, so I think it’s still early doors. We just need to try and start building properly.

“I struggle sometimes with self belief” he continued honestly. “In the past maybe I was too self confident, and in terms of trying to mature up and be a more complete rider maybe I’ve lost a little bit of this self belief and ‘I got this’ sort of thing. Definitely I think I was able to get that back a little bit more last weekend and now I’m just trying to be a little bit more free.

“At the end of the day I think the biggest thing I need to remember is I’m just a guy who loves racing motorcycles and I’m fortunate enough to do it as my job, and to not take any moment of this for granted. Enjoy it because it’s what I love to do. Literally the most happy place I am in the world is on my motorcycle and that’s the biggest thing, is just to remember to enjoy what I do.”

Returning his focus to the weekend, and Sunday’s 27-lap race, Miller explained: “If the flag to flag comes into it, it’s more on me and just getting your timing right. It can either be a masterstroke or it can be a massive fuckup, it depends on how you do it. So that puts a little bit more pressure on the rider - you’re thinking a lot more rather than just going out and racing your bike, you’ve definitely got to weigh up your options here. We haven’t done a flag to flag race in a while so I think it’d be pretty interesting but if we can try and avoid one that’d be good, but we’ll see.”