Best Independent Team 2020

DOUBLE TOP TEN IN DONINGTON’S SUNDAY!

DOUBLE TOP TEN IN DONINGTON’S SUNDAY!

Sunday better than yesterday in terms of results, in which Philipp has always kept the pace of the group fighting for the podium, but has never managed to get completely close. It’s true that tenth position seems far from the top places, but in today’s Superbike with a couple of tenths per lap or a good qualifying it’s easy to gain many positions. Constantly growing compared to Misano, but in any case we still need to improve the race pace to enter the important fight.

In the Warm Up there was an attempt by all the teams to evaluate the softer compound on the rear, but both because of the cold wind and because of a very demanding track in terms of tyre, after a couple of laps the bike became unstable; once the choice was set aside, the idea of everyone going with the SC0 remained the only possible one in both races.

Warm Up:
P 1   J. Rea   1.26.438
P 2   M. Rinaldi   + 0.078
P 3   A. Bautista    + 0.123
…
P 13   P. Oettl   + 0.707

In the Superpole Race, unfortunately, performance counts for little, the important thing is to stay within the first nine positions to improve on the starting grid. This time Philipp came really close, conquering the tenth position in Redding’s slipstream. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but once again the group for the Top 5 was just a few seconds away, and the race pace wasn’t so much faster than that of the German rider. The battle with Aegerter was good, overtaken right in the final stages of the Race.

Superpole Race:
P 1    T. Razgatlioglu    14’26.442
P 2    A. Bautista   + 0.315
P 3    J. Rea     + 0.537
…
P 10   P. Oettl   + 11.167

Race 2 starts with a big scare on the first lap; Sykes is the victim of a very violent highside coming out of turn 8, one of the fastest on the circuit; Rinaldi and Baz end up on the ground to avoid him, Philipp spreads out going onto the grass and still brushing the BMW’s Englishman on the helmet. He comes back last but the race is stopped to help those involved. At the restart, Philipp defended his position close to the top ten, and set off in pursuit of the group in front. He catches Aegerter, overtakes him, tries to close on Gerloff, but all the riders inside the top ten were really riding at a similar pace. He finished the last race at Donington Park tenth, showing good pace, but without having the decisive rythm to get back into the fight at the front. Here there was very little gap, even if the final result seems far from the top five. Once again qualifying and the first laps are crucial for a good result.

Race 2:
P 1    A. Bautista    31’51.175
P 2    T. Razgatlioglu   + 2.650
P 3    D. Petrucci   + 7.936
…
P 10   P. Oettl   + 14.317

After Misano it was essential to confirm the steps forward shown in terms of speed; here in Donington Philipp has always been close to the group from P 5 to P 8. Now we need to take a further small step forward, we are talking about one, two tenths a lap which can help to recover important positions and points. See you in Imola in two weeks!

Philipp Oettl (Rider):

“Today both Superpole Race and Race 2 were really really fast! The bike was fine, i got involved in the first lap crash, but i was able to avoid all the riders. We were lucky that the race was red flagged, cause I was really last. Our pace was good enough to stay with the guys in front, but I couldn’t completely close the gap. On one side I am happy cause we are there, I can see the podium all the race long, but on the other side it’s disappointing to be so close but so far in terms of positions. After Misano we found our way, we have to continue this way. Imola it’s a track I don’t know, but I will do a couple of laps with Denis riding the bicycle, he will show me some tricks!”

Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):

“80% of the race is decided in qualifying and in the first five laps. We’re back to being very fast, today we confirmed that the pace is in line with the Top 5, but we have to work to improve these first two stages in order to get the result. The work we’re doing motivates us for the next race. We can touch the result but we still don’t grab it, and this makes us even hungrier. At Donington we were very consistent and Philipp was even able to find himself more comfortable when overtaking. Now we need the last step!”

SUNDAY PICS: CLICK HERE

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