Philip Ottle is off to a strong start with a 5th ranking in Australia

Traditionally, the Superbike World Championship begins with three races on the last weekend in February at Phillip Island, Australia. For Philipp Öttl of the “Go Eleven Ducati” team, it was his second Superbike season start in which he finished a strong 5th.

It started raining for the first match. Öttl does not yet have experience with this motorcycle under such conditions. So he had to settle for 11th place. It remained dry on the second day as well. In a sprint race over half the race distance, the Bavarian put in a strong performance and missed out on the podium by a good second in sixth place. In the second race of the day, the Ducati Pro did not fare well, dropping to 11th on the opening lap. Often, however, he started a race to grab the best lap times and thus found contact with the group fighting for fourth place. There, Öttl triumphed against multiple world champions and took a best 5th place after 22 laps with victory over Spaniard Alvaro Bautista (who had won both races before). Öttl moved up to 8th overall.

The second event of the three-race Superbike World Championship will be held on the island of Lombok (Indonesia) from March 3 to 5.

– Bit

Read more about this in the PNP print edition of Tuesday, February 28 – including the Reichenhaller Tagblatt.