Philipp Öttl fights his way back – and questions Ducati’s classification

Philipp Öttl managed to round off a difficult weekend on a positive note at the Supersport World Championship in Cremona. After finishing 17th in Superpole, he had to work his way through the field in the first race and finished 11th. His fastest lap in the race also secured him 9th on the grid for Race 2. On Sunday, Öttl finished 7th, making him the second-best Ducati rider behind Jaume Masia.

“It was a difficult weekend, but we managed to turn it into something solid,” Öttl told SPEEDWEEK.com on Sunday evening. He had envisaged a different start to the weekend: “We didn’t get off to a good start on Friday. I lacked a feel for the bike. I found it difficult to slow the bike down, get it through the corners and accelerate.”

Starting from 17th on the grid turned the first race into a chase. “Things didn’t go well at the start of the weekend, but we found our way later on,” explained Öttl. “In the first race, the actual result wasn’t particularly good, but I managed to qualify for 9th on the grid for the second race. The speed was definitely there.” With this improved starting position, he managed to jump up to seventh place on Sunday.

Is the Ducati Panigale V2 currently too restricted?

Despite the improvement, Öttl wasn’t entirely satisfied. He wondered whether the Panigale V2 is currently at a slight disadvantage due to the Balance of Performance. “Of course, I’d have liked to have finished even higher up. But on the other hand, Masia’s third place was the best result for Ducati. Apart from that, it was just sixth and seventh places. Perhaps the classification isn’t quite right. But I have no influence over that.”

In fact, Masia’s third place in the second race at Donington was the best result achieved by a Ducati rider over the past four race weekends. Öttl sees this as a possible indication, but not a definitive explanation for his own result.

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He gave his team high praise following their comeback. “All in all, my motorbike worked well. As a team, we fought our way out of a difficult situation,” emphasised Öttl. He’s taking this very development with him to the remaining rounds at Estoril and Jerez: “I’m looking forward to the last two race weekends and hope we can finish the season on a high.”