Jack Miller had another major moment on his Ducati as he set about qualifying for Sunday’s DohaGP, recovering immediately to secure fourth. 

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo was directly behind the Bologna bullet, describing Miller as the “hero” of the day after “one of the biggest saves” he’s ever seen.

The laid-back Australian responded with his usual candour in the late evening debrief, stating “I'm happy with fourth” before turning his attention to the incident. “I had another massive moment, probably bigger than yesterday's one, at turn three,  Fabio saw it live. 

"Then even the next lap I sort of rolled out and nearly didn't make a second lap because the time was running out. When I went through it again I was even being gentle but the thing sort of let go as we went through there, rear grip was not fantastic this evening. So that's more or less what I was looking quite pissed about - the moment and just not really being able to go bang, bang and do the two laps like I was able to do in the beginning.”

Saturday’s conditions provided a real challenge for the GP paddock as strong winds repeatedly harassed the riders bringing dust and desert debris onto the track. The teams attempted to work around the conditions as Miller explained “with the sand and the wind we tried to soften the bike right up and then it was just sitting too much like a chopper, especially with this wind. All the corners that were against the wind I just couldn't get the thing to turn, so we just went back to the stiffer spring from yesterday to get the position on the bike. Also consistency this weekend, the track's been different every single day or every single time we exit onto the track it seems to be different, but yeah, only one more day left here in Qatar. Try and make it a good one and get out of here in one piece!

“We've got a rough idea of what we need for the evening, in the wind. I mean it was pretty windy last week, it was pretty windy this evening but this afternoon I didn't even go out - I mean I'm not going out in that. We have limited engines anyway, to go and suck heaps of dust through my bike and just destroy things for no reason, with no real benefit whatsoever? It was a complete sandstorm out there! 

“At least when we went out for FP4 and for qualifying, there was not much sand flying around but   it was ridiculous in FP3. I didn't see the meaning. As I've said all along, the temperatures are double what it needs to be. You can run in it, is no issue - as we saw, everybody got around - you just got to ride to the conditions, kind of like riding in the wet. For sure, when the wind starts hitting 40kph an hour, then I start to ask questions, and with the gusts, it's not consistent, so you can be doing everything normal, and then be blown off the edge of the track like what happened to Oliveira a couple of years ago in Phillip Island!”

Returning to the issue at hand, Miller seems confident and comfortable about Sunday’s 22-lap contest. “I feel the same as I felt last week” the Australian confirmed. 

“We'll get away from there at a good rate and settle in for the race. It shouldn't affect me too much I don't think, being there [fourth]. There’s some more Ducati's around us but my starts are always pretty good anyway and I don't really want to be leading the race in the beginning, so we'll just try to do the same sort of game plan as we had last week, but execute it properly this week!

“It's unpredictable, 11 days here now, riding around this same circuit. It’s the only track we've ridden all year so for sure everybody's going to be fast. Everybody will be there and we'll see. Maybe somebody wants to try and escape but I think it's going to be quite difficult to do that. It could be everyone trying to be patient, it's difficult to say. We'll see what everybody's agenda is once the race starts tomorrow, we can work our way into it and just try to adapt to the situation as much as possible. I know my game plan and what I plan on trying to do, whether or not we can do it is another question, but we'll see.”