Ducati’s Jack Miller secured his second successive front row at Le Mans on Saturday after qualifying third for the FrenchGP.

Neatly tucking in behind Frenchman Fabio Quartararo in the dying embers of the Q2 session, the Australian pushed his Desmosedici to its limits, holding on despite the sketchy conditions to deliver his second front row start in as many races with a 1’32.704, just a tenth from the Yamaha rider’s pole time.

Describing how he navigated the day’s conflicting conditions to capitalise to the best of his abilities, Miller explained:

“I tried to get out on the slicks as quick as possible. I went out and just checked the track real quick with the wets because after the end of Q1 it looked like it was still quite wet, thinking that we might be able to throw the slicks in towards the end of it but the track was pretty much completely dry.

“I swapped the bike as quickly as possible because you never know here how long that window of having a dry track is going to be. Went out and did four laps on my own. I had Pol behind me and Fabio a bit further back, and was able to go alright and then it started spitting at turn two, and I completely lost the front. I sort of semi slowed down, but you can’t really slow down too much - we’re struggling quite a bit with the front tyre temperature.

“I knew all the boys were going to improve again and I managed to tag on behind Fabio and get towed around to a decent lap. It was pretty dodgy, especially on the left hand side. I just kept losing the front but was able to stay on for the lap.

“He gained quite a lot on me at turn two/three, I honestly didn’t want to really push too much there with the colder tyre and then I pushed like a complete idiot into turn eight. I braked like I’ve never braked there before and was able to catch it back but again up to the back-straight he gained again a little bit and we were quite similar. I really tried to let it roll the maximum I could through the last corner and try and gain it back, just that little bit more but when I went over the line, I was curious to see what he did.

“Front row, here, is awesome because the conditions can be one way or the other tomorrow. Especially if it’s wet, to be out in front and not cop all that spray and have that big disaster at turn two where everyone funnels in, to have some clear air there, is definitely going to pay off I think!

“It was definitely difficult this morning. In FP3 I tried to go out and do a little bit of a race run in the wet, we were trying a few different things on the bike and I felt really good on the braking, but I had a bit of a slide over turn five going down to six, and I was quite a bit later on the brakes. I was in a race run so I thought ‘I’ll see what I can get out of this thing to get it to stop and turn’ - it didn’t work out for me and I’m tucking the front so I kinda worked out where the limit is there!

“I was just in that race mentality, I guess, knowing ‘if I do run wide here, how hard can I push it without going off the edge of the track?’ and I found that limit, like I said. I think that was just a very clear indication of how hard this track can be, because if you go just a little bit out of the semi dry line, where there’s not as much standing water, it’s very slippery.

“We haven’t had any sessions the same. Today, in the FP4, I was with Marc and Pol on the out-lap, and then it started raining but I saw it wasn’t raining too bad so I decided to try and circulate and make a few more laps, just to understand how the bike is reacting. Where I can push, where I can’t and just understand what is the limit, even with this rain falling, because as we know the weather here is very unpredictable and it’s most likely that we’re going to get something like that tomorrow in the race.

“For the race setup we haven’t really done any changes at all. It’s impossible to use any other tyre so it’s quite clear, I think, medium tyres for wets and the soft tyres for dry.

“I think the Yamaha’s definitely have a good pace and seems like they’re able to continue. From my understanding, from my feeling with my bike, the tyres are lasting pretty good the whole way - but it’s difficult to get the temperature into them. In the wet, I feel quietly confident with myself. I feel I’m able to go out and go fast immediately. We will see, that I don’t get too carried away is the big question, but it’s just between me and my hand, I guess. I think we can manage.”