Jack Miller challenged his Ducati Lenovo teammate for MotoGP pole at Misano with just 0.02s between the pair on Saturday afternoon.

Miller came close to clinching his first pole position of the season before slotting in behind Pecco Bagnaia as the Italian secured his second celebration on home soil despite another day of challenging mixed conditions. The Australian feeling both confident and proud of the work done so far and the prospects ahead in Sunday’s race.

“Yeah, satisfied with the weekend up until this point,” Miller said after qualifying. “We've been strong in all conditions - I think we've been top three every session - but it's been pretty hectic so far! A lot of moments. Thankfully I've been able to stay on, up until this point, but the bike's working really, really well in all conditions.

“Today, leading into qualifying, not having any laps done over the weekend with slicks on was kind of, let's say, stressful, or at least you're just thinking about it a little bit more,” he continued. “Thankfully a lot of the work we've done through the test I think helped us out today. We have a decent base setting. I was able to get out there end of FP4 - once I seen everyone stop falling off it, more or less. There was a lot of boys going down at the beginning! I was like, 'I'll just wait a little bit' but got out there for like three laps and could understand where the wet patches were, how the bike was working. Made a little adjustment for the ‘dodgier’ conditions for Q2 and yeah, I was able to put in a couple of decent laps.

“A few moments, it was really hard to get temperature on the left hand side of the tyre. I had multiple moments at turn six, just every time you put it over on the left hand side it would go, but it seemed like you sort of had to find a balance today of how much you could actually push. Because every time I tried to push a little bit more towards the end, once I had sort of a banker in, I'd have a moment and then it cost me the lap. So definitely one of those days but happy to be back on the front row, much the same as what it was last time we were here. A lot of things are different but hopefully we'll be able to capitalise on it come this race.

“For sure we can do a lot of things better as well. Nobody's perfect but I think tomorrow, coming into the race nobody's really [prepared with] the conditions. Yeah we raced here a couple of weeks back and had a test, but the conditions are a lot different to what they were then.

“I think the way that the tyres are going to work is going to be completely different so we're kind of heading into the unknown tomorrow come race time. Once we get to around that 10-lap mark, no one really knows what's gonna happen. I think we just have to stick to our guns, try and get away at the beginning. Thankfully, both Pecco's championship rival and mine are both buried down the grid so hopefully we'll be able to get out to a decent start and manage the race from there. That's the plan anyway. It's a lot easier to plan it than to put it into action!”

With Bagnaia locked in the championship battle with Fabio Quartararo - who could only manage 15th after failing to progress from Q1 - Miller is aware of his responsibilities this weekend, despite no team orders or conversations being had, thus far.

“Nobody's said anything to me about team orders or anything like that up until this point,” Miller confirmed. “It's just as me, as being a rider and having common sense, I think it's the main thing. We all want the same thing, we all want to see Ducati win. We all want to try and get the best for that. And at the moment Pecco's our biggest chance. So for sure, for me, it doesn't change anything for me. I'm there to do the best I can do. We'll see what happens in the race tomorrow but for sure Pecco's speed around here is undoubted so, I don't think it'll change anyway the way my race is going.

“I'll just try and tag along to the back of him. Or if it works out like in America, that I can be faster than him throughout the race then for sure I'd like to get past and try and tow him but I mean it's not like I'm gonna be dive bombing him every three corners and trying to send us both off the track, it's just common sense I think, more than anything.

“I think we are leading both those [team and constructor championships] now. And fortunately we have both bikes on the first and second position at the moment so it's kind of a good day in that area. Whichever order finishes tomorrow at least we know is going to be good - at least both bikes need to finish that's the most important thing, to keep getting points. The constructors and the team is super important for Ducati. Of course the individual title is also really important, so we try to do the best, as I said I am not an idiot. I know what's going on, what is happening, I'm not going to be doing anything stupid but for sure I'm here to race as well. We are all here to race, to do the best we can. So, we will just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow, but as I said I will use my head.”