ღOff the pace during winter testing, the Australian came out fighting when it mattered.

Miller stunned with the fastest time in Friܫday practice, before qualifying on the second row and fighting for a podium throughout the Saturday Sprint.

Crossing the line just 1.6s from former Ducati team-mate and race winner Francesco Bagnaia, Miller’s performance was on the lips of B🌃agnaia, 🌼Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez as they made their way to the podium.

“It was funny to hear the insight of the guys,” Mille🐼r said on Thursday in Argentina.

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“The soft front surprise🌠d everybody, translating what I did on the Ducati to the KTM after I think it’s been renowned that all they can run is the hardest thing in the allocation. So to do 12 laps like that was꧃ nice.”

But the four-time MotoGP race winner admitted: “I don’t know what it is. I think people still think I lucked my way into this job somehow. B🐭ecause I get doubted more than an🐈ybody on this grid!

“To prove countless people🦹 wrong again has been amazing, it kind 🤪of gives me extra power.

“The guys, like everybody else, were surprised to see me there. It gives me an awesom🎐e sense of accomplishment to be there already, to challenge these guys, and to prove so💞 many people wrong. It’s been awesome.”

Miller - who went on to claim seventh place, within half-a-second of fourth, in the main Sunday race - insisted that he doesಌn’t know why he is perceived differently to other proven grand prix winners.

“I don’t know what it is - if I did, I’d fix it. I don’t think it’s being Australian bec♈ause there have been guys like Casey Stoner and a long line of great Australian champions,” said Miller, who fought for the Moto3 crown in 2014 his third world championship season, then bypassed Moto2 by jumping straight to MotoGP.

“But on♏e way or another, I’m constantly doubted and we’ve constantly been able to prove people wrong throughout my career, whether it be stepping straight up [to MotoGP] from Moto3 ꦓwhen people said I’d be gone within a year.

“Here I am, eight or nine years later, still going. Being able to be a factory Ducati rider, I was told that I’d never win in ☂those colours, and I managed to do it. I won on an underp♛owered Honda… but I still got doubted.

“It’s𒅌 always nice and that alone, the sense of proving people wrong, doing it for myself, is awesome.

“That’s what this ne🐻w challenge is about. I thank KTM for giving me this chance and the support to do this. It gives me💃 an amazing sense of accomplishment and I’m sure it gives those guys something as well.”

Miller's past victorie🍒s for Honda and Ducati mean he has the chance, alongside Maverick Vinales, to become the first rider to win MotoGP races f🀅or three different manufacturers.

Miller&n༺bsp;went into the Portimao weekend without a race distance on the RC16 in testing but emerged with what he feels was his strongest start to a MotoGP campaign.

“It was a positive weekend all around. We made a big step from the test,” he said. “To show our speed on Friday, t🧔hen back it up in the sprint race. The sprint was the first time I’d done 12 laps on the KTM, the race on Sunday was the first time I’d don⭕e over 20.

“So it was an unknown weekend, I didn’t know what to expect, but the team put to⛎gether an amazing package, a really co💞mpetitive package. We did what we did best - go racing. It was a lot of fun.

“Watching the race back gave me a big sense of nostalgia thinking of 2014, wearing Alpinestars and riding the KTM [in Mot꧑o3]. It made me feel young again, even though I’m getting old!

“It was an amazing f🦩ight to be with Pecco an♛d the boys, dicing with them for a lap or two in the Sprint.

“The pace in the {Sunday] race was also decent. I had more to give at the end but I couldn’t find a way past Alex Marquez. It’s a massive 🍷boost to my confidence knowing that [tyre] life is there if needed.

“It’s one of my ♏most competitive starts to the year ever in MotoGP. Hope♛fully a sign of things to come.

“We’ve all got to try and give [Bagnaia] a few more headaches because he’s on Cloud Nine at the moment. He cam🍒e in with the #1 and has backed it up.”

Miller starts this weekend’s Termas de Rio Hondo event, where changeable weather and a dirty track surface could pla꧒y to his natural riding strengths, hoꦏlding joint fourth in the world championship standings with Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati).