Jack Miller’s Saturday at the 2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix was severely hindered by several wildlife strikes in qualifying and the sprint.
The KTM rider had to go through the Q1 session on Saturday morning, but couldn’t advance on 16th after a rabbit strike left his RC16 fairing with damage.
Then in the sprint, Miller hit a seagull on the opening lap at Turn 1 which left a “gaping hole” on the right side of his front fairing.
The dead bird got wedged between the fairing and the brake lever, while the damage to his bike led to a severe drop in straightline speed.
The Australian was able to make his way up to eighth despite all of this, before a “nothing crash” ended his race on lap eight of 13.
“It could have been a better Saturday,” Miller began.
“I had a good start in the Sprint from a not-great qualifying position and tipping into Turn 1 off the start a seagull flew into the front of the bike, which wasn’t ideal.
“I tried to do what I could on the first lap to get rid of it but I couldn’t so I focused on the job at hand, which was racing and it was going good.I felt comfortable and happy, the tyre was almost getting better and better.
He added: “Pace was good. We were lacking about 10km/h with the big gaping hole in the front of the bike.
“I was able to keep pushing. After the good start I was able to make some more passes, and unfortunately I just passed Frankie [Morbidelli] and Brad [Binder], then binned it at Turn 10.
“It was a nothing crash, kind of the same speed I was doing the lap before.
“As soon as I released the brakes she went away from me. So, gutted about that but happy with the speed and we’ll try to regroup and have another strong one tomorrow.”
The sprint proved disastrous for KTM, with Brad Binder crashing out late on as well as Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta, who suffered a nasty highside and could be in doubt for the grand prix.
On his crash, Acosta – who struggled to 15th on the grid and couldn’t make much progress in the sprint – said: “A hard day on the Island and hard to say much.
“We didn’t have many dry laps to make steps and improve but this morning was not too bad.
“This afternoon was not easy but we’ll try to relax, think about the performance for tomorrow and how I wake up tomorrow morning.”
Augusto Fernandez was the only KTM rider to see the chequered flag, with the Tech3 rider ninth for his best sprint result since the Spanish GP.
