After Friday’s practices, many expressed concern about the pace of the Ducatis over a single lap around the Circuit of the Americas.
After the opening flurry of laps, it was the Italian manufacturer who annexed the provisional front row of the grid.
Miller shot to the top of the order with a 2m03.327s, 0.008s clear of factory team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, while Pramac’s Martin – who topped the Q1 session – slotted into third.
Reigning world champion Quartararo had been sat in fourth in the early stages and was on a good lap when he slid off his Yamaha at the penultimate corner.
At the same time, Gresini’s Enea Bastianini – who tumbled at the start of Q2 at Turn 11 – moved up to fourth, with Q1 graduate Alex Rins on the Suzuki and COTA king Marc Marquez on the Honda shuffling Quartararo down to seventh.
Quartararo – who admitted on Friday that he was strong under braking at COTA but on the limit – was able to get back out on his second YZR-M1 for the final five minutes of Q2.
But the Frenchman could do no more than to settle for sixth on the only Yamaha inside the top 12 – 0.595s adrift of the pole time.
Jack Miller, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Bagnaia went to the top of the pile with two minutes to go on his Ducati with a lap close to the all-time COTA record – albeit on a track that has been partially resurface – before team-mate Miller did beat the old record with a 2m02.042s.
This looked set to secure Miller top spot, but he was denied at the death by Martin, who fired in a 2m02.039s to claim his second pole of the 2022 season.
Ducati would lock-out the top five spots at the chequered flag, with Johann Zarco jumping up to fourth late in the session on the sister Pramac GP22, while Bastianini recovered to fifth ahead of Quartararo.
Rins was just 0.060s shy of a spot on the second row in seventh, with Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir eighth after his final lap.
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