A bitter blow: Philipp Öttl also on the back of the grid on Sunday at Magny-Cours

Philipp Öttl demonstrated just how fast he can be by finishing third in Friday morning’s practice session. However, a crash on the first lap of qualifying meant he had to start Saturday’s first race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours from last place. But instead of ploughing his way through the field from there and perhaps even finishing in the points, the Bavarian faltered. The fact that, with the tenth-fastest lap time, he was a measly 0.005 seconds off ninth place – which would have meant an improvement to ninth on the grid for Race 2 – fits the picture. As a result, the Assen winner will also have to start from the very back on Sunday.

“The bike was completely wrecked after the crash and the team had to rebuild it,” Öttl explained during a meeting with SPEEDWEEK.com. “I didn’t have a good feeling even during the warm-up. We managed to sort out a minor issue – the steering wasn’t smooth because we’d fitted so many new parts. After the race, we realised that the forks weren’t even. I didn’t feel good during the race and could hardly make any headway. Then I pulled into the pits, got a new rear tyre and went all out afterwards. I was right on the limit with the bike as it was.”

Philipp Öttl: Problems sorted?

“It looks as though we’ve found out what the problem was,” added Öttl. “I hope that on Sunday I can get back to the feeling I had on Friday. I also had a good feeling on the bike in qualifying before I crashed. The fact that the weekend then got so out of hand – I only have myself to blame. Normally, a mistake like that shouldn’t happen to me in qualifying; first of all, you’ve got to set a lap time. But when you’re feeling good and think the front tyre won’t slip, that’s exactly when it does. What’s possible on Sunday from the back of the grid? I’ve no idea. Everyone’s so close together; it’s a tough class. All the bikes are racing well and we certainly don’t have an advantage with the Ducati.”

Whilst Yamaha riders Can Öncü and Roberto Garcia, along with Valentin Debise from the ZX Moto works team, finished on the podium in the first race, Josh Whatley brought the best-placed Ducati home in 6th place – 5.7 seconds behind.