WSBK: For Philipp Öttl “Moto2 is a good school for Supersport”

In 2018, the young German rider had a completely decent season in GP Moto3, finishing at Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing on a KTM in sixteenth position in the World Championship, with the second fastest time in qualifying at Jerez, followed by a great victory. at the Spanish Grand Prix with 0.059 ahead of Marco Bezzecchi.

His future therefore seemed promising, and it is no surprise that we found him in 2019 in Moto2 with Red Bull KTM Tech 3. But he fell victim to the “curse” of KTM in Moto2, of which only Brad Binder managed to slip a copy into the top ten at the end of the year.

Very good drivers including Jorge Martin, Iker Lecuona et Marco Bezzecchi experienced more downs than ups with the ineffective Austrian, and Philipp Öttl was no exception. He drank the chalice to the dregs without scoring a single point, with his best qualification being 25th place in Austin, and his best race result being 18th position in Texas. This unfortunately put an end to his Grand Prix career for him.

“Yes, the year has certainly not gone optimally. The motorcycle was not easy to ride “, said Philipp Öttl. “But there were other drivers in the paddock who used it better than me. I had to learn a lot in the new category on this bigger bike. »

“I didn't have as much experience in that regard as a lot of other rookies who had more experience with heavier bikes. Nevertheless, I learned a lot of things that I can use in the World Supersport Championship in the future. »

“I also learned a lot in Moto2 in the fall. In Buriram and Motegi, I learned things that gave me a clearer direction,” said the 23-year-old Bavarian. “This season, in every test session, when I sat on the bike, I had to try something different. The orders were: “Drive like this, drive like this, drive like that.” Try this body position, use the rear brake this way. Brake like this, do this and that. So I had to think all the time while driving about how to combine all these tips. I had to think about what I needed to do to get the bike to turn into the corner reasonably. »

Philipp then reached an agreement to ride with Manuel Puccetti on Kawasaki in Supersport, as a worthy successor to Kenan Sofuoglu and Lucas Mahias, of whom he will be his teammate in 2020.

At the end of November, Öttl achieved a good second time during the Jerez tests, ahead of the reigning World Champion Randy Krummenacher, which wasn't bad for a beginner in the category. All hopes are therefore reasonably allowed.