Jack Miller lived up to his prediction of a Moဣtegi podium challenge, at least during the⛦ early stages of the Japanese MotoGP.

The Pramac Ducati rider rocketed from the outside of the second row and climbed to thir🍒d place, behind Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo, within a few laps.

But the Australian – who had put long runs on thꦯe same soft rear tyre in practiceꦕ - suddenly began to struggle, fading all the way back to tenth by chequered flag.

"We had an issue with the rear grip," Miller explained. "It came around lap 5 or 7. Since then I was more-or-less in survival m🅘ode.

"I don't know what happened. I felt really comfortable, really strong, I was just trying to stay 🌟with Marc and Fabi🤡o and then all of a sudden I couldn't push any more.

"So we have to go through the data and understand wha🦩t went wrong and wh🗹ere.

"Really disappointed, but we brought it home. It's not where we wanted to be after fighting for the pod🍎ium at the start. I believe we had more today, but we weren't able to show it."

A♌ndrea Dovizioso went on to give Ducati a podium finish with third place, using the medium rear tyre.

Miller rema൲ins eighth in the world championship but his hopes of beating Quartararo to top satellite honours now look to be over, with the Petronas Yamaha rider 48-points ahead with only 75 points remaining.

MotoGP now ൩heads straight for Miller's home event at Phillip Island, which starts on Friday morning.

Miller's rookie 🦋team-mate Francesco Bagnaia finished the Motegi ꧋race in 13th place.