With Miller and KTM in general towar🐟ds the lower end of the timesheets in wi꧂nter testing, the Australian had already done a solid job when he jumped to the edge of the top ten with a 1m 38.7s on his opening time attack.

But chasing Ducati replacement Enea Bastianini on his final run perhaps proved to be a red rag to a (Red) bull and Miller stunned the KTM team by blasting to a 1m🃏 37.7s, snatching P1 away from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales by 0.037s.

The next best KTM was ro🥃okie Augusto Fernandez in 16th place🧔.

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“I found a shortcut at turn 3 and then also in the last sector!” Miller joked. “To be ho🃏n▨est, I'm as surprised as you guys. Not with the improvements, but the lap time. I wasn't expecting a 37.7 but hey, I'll take it!

“We've been working extremely hard and when I say we, I mean mainly the engineers I've done f**k all except be in Australia for the last four months! They've been listening to everything I've said, 𒀰my comments, ღmy wishes and my demands.

“With the new engine, we made a big step. With the new cha💮ssis, we made a big step and then also with the change in philosophy in terms of electronics and so on, we've 📖made a massive step.

“Exit by exit, session by session, I feel like I can make this bike more and more my own And also start to exploit the stro꧙ng points o🏅f the KTM on entry with front feeling.

“The b𝄹ike gives me a great sense of confidence in the front because you get an am💜azing reading off the tyre.

“I had a coup🌊le of moments today, if you look at my elbow, I managed to save a crash like that. I had a𒁏nother one on this [other elbow] side. The bike really gives you an amazing feeling and I'm able to save these moments.

"My objective today was to be inside the top 10 and we were able to do that by a cons♊iderable margin. So we will see what we can do t🍬omorrow and then the Sprint race will be a full attack."

Miller added: “I haꦉve to say a massive thank you 🌃to all the engineers and to KTM and everybody for trusting me and for giving me this opportunity. It's been an amazing journey so far from the bike I rode in Valencia to what we've got now, and I feel like hopefully we can keep this going.

“We need to work a lot more still in ꦕterms of how we can react to changing electronics and chanꦚging this and that, because that's definitely one of the areas that maybe we are struggling with the most. But I know the guys are working extremely hard on streamlining this process and making it faster.

“Because w💜hen we get to tracks [w🐼ithout testing] we need to make changes very quickly. But they know and it's something they've been working on for quite some time now."

A delighteജd Miller celebrated P1 with a Toprak-style bunny hop over the crest on his slow-down lap.

“I saw a video of Toprak actually. I saw he jumped a lot further than all of us were d▨oing, so I really hi💧t it hard today!” he smiled.

With the top ten for direct Qualifying 2 access now decided after FP2, Miller is guar๊anteed to start inside the t꧙op ten for both the Saturday afternoon Sprint and main Sunday race.

Team-mate Brad Binder struggled with neck pain from his tes🍎ting accident and was 18th quickest. The South African went to the medical centre for an MRI on Friday evening.

GASGAS rider Pol Espargaro was transported to hospital for further scan🐻s after injuring his back and chest in a big accident that brought out the red flags in FP2.