Certainly, on this Sunday at Montmelò, the Go Eleven Team was unable to change a difficult weekend, conditioned by excessive tyre drop and lack of grip on the track. The positive note is that for half of today’s race Philipp was able to keep up with the pace of the Top Ten, improving his references compared to yesterday by over half a second. That’s not enough, since the gap is wide compared to the group in front, but there have been signs of improvements and growth.
The Warm Up was a really useless session for Go Eleven, Philipp had to use very used tyre to save the new compounds in case of restarts or red flags in the scheduled races.
Warm Up:
P 1 A. Bautista 1.41.367
P 2 T. Razgatliogliu + 0.287
P 3 M. Rinaldi + 0.355
…
P 21 P. Oettl + 3.152
A small step forward was seen in the Superpole Race; the number 5 was able to keep up with the riders fighting for the points, the first nine, he was never able to close the gap definitively, but at least he kept a pace similar to that of Scott Redding. In the last three laps the condition of the track was really critical; the rain wet the track in some places, but still the asphalt was slick. Everyone raised their times a lot, Oettl was one of the fastest on track in the last part of the race. Thirteenth position at the finish line, no changes for the starting grid for Race 2.
Superpole Race:
P 1 A. Bautista 17’10.303
P 2 T. Razgatlioglu + 2.110
P 3 A. Locatelli + 2.385
…
P 13 P. Oettl + 10.428
Race 2 was the best race of the weekend, despite only two points being scored in the end; Philipp was able to keep up with the group in front, catching up on Redding and Gardner, passing both of them. Once again, however, the end of the race was bitter and difficult to manage; the tyre dropped a lot, the German rider tried to hold on, fight, but had to give way to the Yamaha Australian at the end. The race pace was faster than yesterday, and at least he was able to fight with his rivals. Today the three satellite Ducatis struggled a lot to find the rhythm, ending after tenth place.
Race 2:
P 1 A. Bautista 34’17.010
P 2 T. Razgatlioglu + 8.583
P 3 M. Rinaldi + 8.643
…
P 14 P. Oettl + 29.381
The weekend here in Catalunya was negative for the Go Eleven team; expectations were different, unexpected difficulties arose from day one, which did not allow the number 5 Ducati to be in the positions that count. Several times it has been written of small improvements, of steps forward, then not found in the final positions of the standings; over the three days, however, the staff and Philipp managed to find solutions and modifications to carry on in the next races. This aspect gives confidence for next week’s tests, in Misano, where it will be essential to find the right combination for the home race!
Philipp Oettl (Rider):“Even though the result of today is worse than the one of yesterday, I think we did a good race, we did another step in the right direction. Of course I would like to be much more close and in the battle, I hope the next test in Misano will help us a lot, we could find some new solutions for the season. I like to have tests now, cause during the weekend we can just work on the race, and we have few minutes. I think we took the most from our weekend, it’s not enough, but we have been solid without crashes or problems. We need to focus on ourselves to continue working, the Team did a fantastic job, they never give up, they gave me a good feeling and atmosphere. I am sure we can come back!“
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):“The result does not reward the work we are doing and the determination that the whole team, including Philipp, is putting in to get back to the area of the standings we deserve. Here we set up a different type of work, taking a path that we think will bring us benefits already from the next round. Back from Barcelona we have scheduled 2 days of testing at Misano, next Thursday and Friday, where we will have the opportunity to test a few things and ideas that we have. Today in race two we were certainly faster than yesterday, We’ve taken a step forward but we have to take another one, and we have all the credentials to do so. We leave Barcelona aware that we have to do more to get back to the positions we deserve!“
.
 Questa pista, questo luogo, proprio non ne vuole sapere di essere gentile nei confronti del Team Go Eleven. Quando la squadra piemontese sembrava aver trovato la quadra, e Philipp era pronto per lottare nella Top Ten, un pilota davanti è caduto ed il numero 5 non ha potuto evitare la sua moto! Zero punti, ma bisogna prendere il buono di questa domenica, dove il pilota tedesco si è mostrato aggressivo nei sorpassi e con un ritmo in linea con le posizioni importanti.){kind=link}