Argentina MotoGP pole man Jack Miller says his gamble to run slicks in a drying qualifying was based on Malaysian Khairul Idham Pawi's similar gamble which won him the 2016 Moto3 race.
Miller joined pole favourite Marc Marquez and his Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow in switching to slicks midway through Q2, though the latter two felt the track was still too wet in the third sector and reverted to wets.
The Pramac rider stayed out, however, and survived two rear moments to claim his maiden MotoGP pole with a final lap of 1:47.153s and the first for an Australian rider since Casey Stoner at Phillip Island in 2012.
Miller admitted his move was “a big gamble”, but knew the track had good grip in the conditions after Pawi opted for slicks in the Moto3 race two years ago and won by over 20 seconds.
The Australian told motogp.com in parc ferme: “It was a big gamble, that's for sure, but I understood.
“I remember back here to when Pawi won the Moto3 and how much grip this track has in the wet, and the rest of the track was more or less dry.
“So just as long as I could keep it on the dry line I was okay. But that Turn 7, 8 was so slippery. The lap before was probably a quicker lap, but I nearly went over and over the lap before.
“I just touched the gas minutely, which I couldn't do, I just had to coast through there basically, through the wet part, and I just touched the gas minutely and she nearly went on me.
“But, no, I'm really happy to bring it home for the new team and everybody. I'm hoping tomorrow we can get a good start from the pole and stay with these guys.”
Despite his pace in mixed conditions, Miller says he would prefer a dry race as the rainfall at Termas de Rio Hondo is “very unpredictable”. He also thinks the lack of dry practice will make tyre choice a “lottery”.
“25 laps around here in the wet is not going to be fun,” he added.
“As we've seen the rain is very unpredictable here, some sections can be dry and some sections can be wet and the tyres can overheat very quickly.
So I prefer dry, it makes everything a lot easier. But we'll just have to see what happens, we've only had the Friday free practice one was really our only dry time.
“So, trying to know what tyre to use in the race in terms of race distance, it's going to be a bit of a lottery I think.”
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