Jack Miller crashed at Turn 5 in the closing stages of today’s Q2 at Assen. After getting back on the saddle of his Ducati to return to the pits, the Australian was slowly making his way down the straight that follows Turn 5, just as Maverick Vinales, who was on his flying lap, arrived.
The Aprilia rider came really close to hitting Miller on the right side, just as the dicatista was turning to check if anyone was coming behind him.
Although he immediately apologized to Vinales, Miller was still sanctioned by the Race Direction and will have to serve a long lap penalty in Sunday’s race. This is the second consecutive penalty for him, after he was given another penalty for falling under the yellow flags regime in last weekend’s FP4 at Sachsenring.
However, prior to the announcement of the penalty, Miller stated that he had not received any notice from the Race Direction and that he had not made any mistakes in his opinion.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Miller said of what happened with Vinales. “I did everything I could do, I moved all the way to the left. I was sitting badly on the bike after pushing it back into motion.”
“I had a broken footboard, I was just trying to load my foot to make sure it didn’t break when I put all my weight on it to get my leg to the other side of the bike. And I did all this trying not to be get in the way of anyone “.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Vinales was there and I couldn’t do anything. I understand the trajectory takes you out like that, but I couldn’t do much more. I went to apologize because I know it sucked, but I couldn’t do shit. nothing”.
Vinales said he had no problem with what happened, as the lap would have been canceled anyway due to the yellow flags, but admitted he was “lucky” not to hit the Ducati rider.
Miller is not the only rider who will have to serve a long lap penalty in Sunday’s Dutch GP, as Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli also received the same punishment for hindering Enea Bastianini during FP2.
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