Image: Supplied.

North Queenslander Jack Miller admits his 10th-place result in the weekend’s Assen round of MotoGP was at his maximum following a trying weekend with the Alma Pramac Racing Ducati team.

After qualifying in 16th position, Miller made progress in one of the all-time classic grand prix races, initially crossing the line in 11th before being bumped up to P10 when a penalty was applied to Andrea Iannone.

“I was happy to finish, especially with the way the rear tyre was dying on me at the end, but you always want more,” Miller wrote in his Red Bull column. “13 seconds behind Marc [Marquez] at the front isn’t a lot and 11 seconds off Alex Rins, who was second, is about four-tenths of a second a lap.

“But I didn’t think there was much more for me today and looking back at the race 45 minutes after getting off the bike, it was hard to see where I could have gained much more time. I lacked a little bit of edge grip with the tyre for the whole race compared to the guys in front of me, and I just couldn’t hang with them at the pace they were running. Annoying a bit, but that’s the facts.

“I’ve finished six races this year and all of them in the top 10, so it was good to keep that run going. My pace was pretty stable and that was something after a difficult weekend… to bring it home in that sort of race – made a good start, didn’t make any mistakes, stayed calm – was as good as it was going to get.”

After crashing out of Mugello and then being forced to retire at Catalunya with a mechanical, Miller’s return to the top 10 on Sunday currently has him sitting 10th in the world championship standings.