Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Jack Miller is confident he has the pace for a strong showing in tomorrow's Argentine Grand Prix, the second round of the MotoGP World Championship.

Despite the setback of two harmless crashes in qualifying Miller was again impressively fast on the 4.806 km Termas de Rio Hondo circuit with pace that threatens a top ten finish.

The 21-year-old Australian will start 15th on the grid with his rookie teammate Tito Rabat qualifying in 19th position.

Miller made a bold but unsuccessful bid to improve his time on his final qualifying run after being forced to switch to his spare bike which was not fitted with his ideal set-up.

Former Moto2 World Champion Rabat continued with his steady transition to MotoGP to beat his target time in qualifying. The Spanish rider qualified 4.8s faster than his best time in Friday's opening free practice session.

The forecast rain stayed away and the slightly cooler track conditions plus improved grip levels saw times tumble dramatically from the Friday free practice sessions.

Jack Miller: 15th – 1’40.881
“Despite the crashes the positive is that I have some really good speed so I'm confident of a strong run in the race. The second bike was set-up differently for the final practice session and when I switched to it after my first crash at turn one it was shaking like hell on my final lap. I was committed to a fast time but got on a dusty part of the track and used too much angle to get back to the racing line and went down.”

Tito Rabat: 19th – 1’41.157
“I beat my target time in qualifying and I'm happy about that, it has been a very productive practice and qualifying because I improved my times in every session.  Our focus was to work on race set-up in FP4 so I wasn't completely focussed on qualifying even though I improved my time. The Honda is working well here so I need to change my style more to take maximum profit from the bike.  I hope to make another step in the race.” 

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“When Jack was on the bike he was always posting fast sector times and he had the opportunity to be in the top ten for the final qualifying session.   But two crashes cost him and this is part of racing.   It was good performance by Tito. We had a target of 1'41.2 and he did a 1'41.1 and he is getting closer to the front guys each day.”