Source: Supplied.

North Queensland’s Jack Miller raced to important championship points on debut with Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS at this morning’s opening MotoGP round in Qatar.

Still recovering from a broken leg sustained while training for 2016, Miller rode a mature race to 14th and one position ahead of new teammate Tito Rabat on the RC213V.

Miller was unfortunate to lose a hard fought and deserved 12th place when a small mistake on the final lap allowed Ducati satellite-mounted Eugene Laverty and Aprilia factory rider Alvaro Bautista through.

“I finished the race and learnt a lot, so that’s the main positive to take away from tonight,” Miller explained, in what was the world championship’s first race with Michelin control tyres and unified electronic software.

“It is the first time I’ve done full race distance since my pre-season injury and my leg didn’t cause me any problems and I am really happy with my physical condition.

“I was having a good battle with Laverty and Bautista but I made a small mistake on the last lap that let them back through, so that was a shame. It was good experience and now we can look forward to Argentina where I had a strong result a year ago.”

Miller was delighted though to pass a severe examination of his physical condition after completing a full race distance for the first time since injuring his right leg in a pre-season training acciden.