Jack Miller said that he thinks he was a shocked as anyone to see him qualify in second position ahead of tomorrows MotoGP race in Misano.

The highly likeable Australian found himself behind pole-sitter Jorge Lorenzo on a quick lap. Despite Lorenzo abandoning his lap, Miller continued to the line and ended up doing a 1:31.916 which was enough to hold off all challengers.

“I think I was as shocked as anyone. I felt good,” Miller said after the qualifying session.

“We didn’t do the test here but I had good speed in Silverstone and really good speed in the test at Aragon the other day and I hit the ground running.

“The first tyres were great and I had good speed. I maybe pushed a little at the end of FP1 and lost the front at T1 and then got round to the next session and also crashed on the last corner, the same thing. I just couldn’t get the tyres up to temperature, it was a little bit overcast and I just went a little wide and everyone saw the moment and she went down.

“I knew I had good speed, then this morning in the half wet, half dry I was actually outside of the Q2 cut off so I had to really grit my teeth and go for it in that one and we were able to do the lap time, just!

“With all the wet patches it was a bit dodgy and it was a lot nicer to do the lap time n Q2 when it was nice and dry. Really happy for tomorrows race, I think we have good pace on the soft and the medium. We tried both used in FP4 and had good solid pace. I expect it’ll be a long hot race like Jorge said and to try and mix it up with these boys as much as possible and see what happens.”

Despite starting from second position, some will be expecting the Pramac man to fall down the field once the likes of Dovizioso, Marquez and Rossi start coming through the field. Miller however thinks he has the pace to run with the front-runners.

“The goal is to go for the podium,” he said.

“But like you said FP4 was really good for us. I think myself, Marc and Dovi were the only guys are the front who tried used tyres. I tried both the soft from this morning and was really good and had a good solid pace on that. Then I tried the medium that I crashed on yesterday and again I struggled to get it up to temperature. I don’t know if it’s just that tyre, I’d like to check that out again in the morning if conditions allow.

“But race pace feels very good, as Jorge said it’s going to be a long, hot race. As we’ve seen in the past if we follow too closely with the Michelins, the front tyre, like what happened to me in Austria, the temperature and pressure rises quite a lot so I think clear air may be a help.

“That’s not to say I will go and try to blitz it at the front, but try to get the least amount of bikes in front of me as possible.”

Despite a strong start to the season, Miller has only scored 10 points in the last six races. Miller said that after his disastrous race in Austria, he went away and pushed the reset button and that has left him rejuvenated for the second half of the season.

“I just feel good. I’m in a good moment again. I’m feeling comfortable on the bike,” said Miller.

“Not adjusting much it’s just small clicks and I think I just took a step back and reset everything and said ‘ok, lets go again’ and it’s been great. Since we arrived sat Silverstone on the Friday it’s been awesome to ride the bike since and even with the two crashes here I feel very comfortable.”