Philipp Öttl (Ducati): “To get on the podium, every lap has to be perfect”

The 2026 Supersport World Championship will be the final season for the 955cc Ducati Panigale V2. From next year onwards, the 890cc model will be used; the bike, which is 17 kg lighter, has been available at dealerships since 2025. Philipp Öttl is busy preparing for the racing season; his main role is racing with the top-tier Feel Racing team.

Ducati’s advantages are gone – top speed is fine, but acceleration is lacking

There was a time when the V2 Ducati was dominant in the Supersport World Championship – Nicolò Bulega in 2023 and Adrian Huertas in 2024 didn’t win their titles solely on the strength of their riding skills. But those days are over, at the very latest since this year. The balance system has wiped out all of Ducati’s advantages.

“I don’t want to complain about the Ducati’s classification or the system itself,” Öttl emphasised in a one-on-one interview with SPEEDWEEK.com editor-in-chief Ivo Schützbach. “But if you look at the manufacturers’ standings quite objectively, the picture has been different since the classification was changed at Misano. The problem is that whilst the Ducati’s top speed is incredibly good, it lacks acceleration coming out of the corners. You notice this even more clearly in the races. By the time the tyres start to wear out, at the very latest, I can no longer keep up.”

In the middle category, too, a good grid position is becoming increasingly important. At the Estoril round, Öttl was only 0.5 seconds off the pole time, but that still meant 15th on the grid. Good starts laid the foundation for his 10th and 6th places – as the second-best and best Ducati rider in the races respectively.

“The pace for a better starting position was there, but I just couldn’t manage a good lap in Superpole,” admitted the Bavarian. “Otherwise, it was okay from a rider’s perspective. In the second race, I was the best Ducati rider; things aren’t really coming together for Masia at the moment either. I gave it my all right up to the final lap and that was the best I could manage. The race being stopped actually worked in my favour, as it meant I could have new tyres fitted. To make it onto the podium, we’d have to be absolutely perfect on every lap – and I found that particularly difficult here, especially in the final sector.”

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Öttl continued: “I’m still convinced we have the pace for even more, but we’ll give it our all one last time at Jerez. Now it’s time to relax a bit, analyse everything and come back strong for the final race weekend. I’m really motivated for this final chance, especially on the old bike – we’ll see; I’m really looking forward to it. Jerez is a track I love.”