A solid, but slippery Friday at Motorland Aragon

Solidity and race pace, these few words can summarize Team Go Eleven’s first day at Motorland Aragon; still close to tenth position, with a limited gap from the first five positions, Philipp Oettl tested different tyres solutions with a view to the race, however showing excellent references both in the morning and in the afternoon.

In FP 1 Philipp surprised by showing himself fast and immediately at ease on the stunning Spanish track; let’s remember that several teams carried out tests here during the summer break, therefore it was not at all obvious to be in the top part of the ranking. The whole session with the same tyres, over 20 laps, managing the drop of the rear Pirelli. Aragon is historically a very expensive track in terms of tyres, and management will be fundamental for the entire duration of the race. Tenth position, good pace, all that remains is to wait for the afternoon session to take the conclusions of the first day.

Free Practice 1: 
P 1   J. Rea   1.50.309
P 2   I. Lecuona   + 0.032
P 3   D. Petrucci    + 0.342
…
P 10   P. Oettl   + 1.086

In FP 2 the conditions changed a lot, the asphalt was decidedly warmer. Philipp entered with the softest solution, and then carried out a comparison from a race perspective. Very similar times between the two configurations, but at the end of the session we understood the direction to take for the long distance. With warmer temperatures, the grip dropped significantly, so much so that the riders complained about a lack of grip and a lot of sliding. A solid Friday, however, which saw Go Eleven’s cyan Ducati always placing close to the top ten positions, improving session after session. The gap from the first increased in the afternoon, but both in terms of speed and pace, the riders in the second group are all very close and compact. Eleventh final position, useful data collected, and good work by the whole team, with Philipp appearing very calm and confident for the remainder of the weekend.

Free Practice 2:  
P 1    A. Bautista     1.49.649
P 2    M. Rinaldi   + 0.077
P 3    D. Petrucci     + 0.176
…
P 11   P. Oettl   + 1.466

Philipp Oettl (Rider):

“Today we started in the right direction, we have to consider that we didn’t do the test at Aragon. This morning the session was good, I found the rythm quite fast, and this afternoon we found some interesting solutions, too. We were most of the time in the Top Ten, 99% we choose the tyre for tomorrow, there is one configuration that gives me a better feeling, but we have to work on the grip, especially in accelerations and drive grip. In that areas we need to improve working. At the end of Friday we are a bit more in front compared to Magny-Cours, it’s positive, cause at the end we had a solid weekend there. Let’s keep focused on our job in FP 3, let’s be consistent tomorrow, watch the data and I am looking forward to have good sessions tomorrow!”

Race One – P6 – Back in business!

We can say, a perfect day in Aragon for Philipp Oettl and Team Go Eleven! Excellent qualifying, constant and very fast Race 1, in which the German rider started well, opened the gap in the first laps and fought hard in the final laps against the tyre drop, only losing position to a Petrucci in amazing form. Today it was impossible to do better, so well done Philipp, and congratulations to all the staff, the efforts in difficult moments paid off!

FP 3, which took place with around 16 degrees of asphalt, proved to be a frustrating and not very indicative session for the Go Eleven rider. Good pace on used tyres, then with qualifying Oettl was unable to make an impact as he often found himself in traffic. Even the Best Lap arrived on the fifth lap, with a very used and not performing rear. The potential, however, was clearly in line with the first places, just a clean lap was missing.

Free Practice 3: 
P 1   D. Petrucci   1.48.808
P 2   A. Bautista   + 0.078
P 3   R. Gardner    + 0.555
…
P 15   P. Oettl   + 1.753

Finally a nice Superpole! In the hot moment, Philipp finds a good reference on the track, Gardner, manages to exploit all the potential of the SCQ, placing himself in the first three rows. Eighth place, one tenth from the second row and less than a second from the top; best qualifying of the season after Phillip Island, and an ideal position for the start of the race, from the center of the track. Fast and decisive, continuing to work with head and calm, this is what is needed to achieve good results.

Superpole:  
P 1    J. Rea    1.47.973
P 2    A. Bautista   + 0.351
P 3    T. Razgatlioglu    + 0.550
…
P 8   P. Oettl   + 1.027

Race 1 simply perfect! Excellent start, first corner on the outside, then inside in turn two, overtaking Lecuona, overtaking Axel in a precise and strong way, from then on the German rider set a pace in line with Locatelli, escaping from the large group behind. Only a super Danilo Petrucci denied Team Go Eleven the joy of the first Top Independent of the season, but the pace of the rider from Terni was far too faster compared to the cyan Ducati. Sixth position means second best result of the season, but even more importantly it certifies that the Piedmontese team and Philipp are back in the positions that count!

Race 1:  
P 1    M. Rinaldi    33’18.957
P 2    T. Razgatlioglu    + 1.253
P 3    J. Rea   + 2.837
…
P 6    P. Oettl   + 14.427

In view of tomorrow, the technicians’ work will focus on the second part of the race; today in the last six laps Philipp had to slow down the pace due to tyre drop. He was able to defend the position, but it will be necessary to take a step in the right direction and above all to defend the Top 9 in the Superpole Race. For now, however, what remains of this Saturday is the good performance of the whole team in the important sessions of this Round so far!

Philipp Oettl (Rider):

“The Qualifying today was really good, it was the base for our strong Race 1! I did a great start, I overtook Lecuona there, then I also got over Bassani, quite easily overtaking him in turn 1. It was necessary cause I had more rythm, so I tried to stay with Locatelli, but he was a bit faster than me, he was more consistent for all the laps. At one point my tyre dropped a lot, but I could manage my 6th position. We did a good job overall, I hope we can do another small step forward tomorrow, but at the moment I am really happy to be back in Top positions!”

Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):

“What a pleasure to be back fighting in the top five positions! Today Philipp started well and immediately overtook Bassani without wasting time… he was very good and it was a shame to have lost the Top Independent to Petrucci, but today Danilo was very strong and he deserved it! Let’s move the challenge to tomorrow, but for today I am satisfied with everyone’s work, we have overcome a moment in which the results were struggling to come, we have always believed in it, and today the efforts have been rewarded. A small step tomorrow, and we can confirm our potential!”

21 championship points in the best weekend of the year so far

Sixth, eighth, seventh, the three results achieved by the Go Eleven team at Motorland Aragon! Solid, constant weekend, always at the top, without mistakes and above all Philipp Oettl was the author of hard-fought races in which he was able to attack when he needed to attack and defend at the end! Best Independent narrowly faded today too, but the important thing is to have found the confidence, speed and feeling with the Ducati V4-R that we had at the start of the season.

In the Warm Up, the German rider tested the rear SCX; In yesterday’s practice, this tyre did not provide a good feeling, it was unstable at the distance. The second comparison found the same critical issues, so it was decided to continue with the B800 with a view to Race 2. All ok, on a technical level, the concentration moves to the Superpole Race, where it is “mandatory” to enter the top nine.

Warm Up: 
P 1   D. Petrucci   1.48.829
P 2   A. Bautista   + 0.038
P 3   A. Locatelli    + 0.367
…
P 14   P. Oettl   + 1.259

In the Superpole Race Philipp started slightly worse than in Race 1, then found himself wide in turn three, where he lost a couple of positions. On the first lap, however, he found the space to immediately regain eighth position and started chasing Gerloff. The rear SCQ needs some management to last ten laps, and Philipp was able to push without putting too much stress on the softest solution available. He overtakes Gerloff, but suffers Vierge’s attack, managing to defend himself tooth and nail from the American’s return. Confirmed grid position and other points earned. Overtaking and defending, our weak points at Magny-Cours, have turned into our strengths at Motorland.

Superpole Race:  
P 1    A. Bautista    18’18.964
P 2    J. Rea   + 0.179
P 3    T. Razgatlioglu    + 0.475
…
P 8   P. Oettl   + 9.384

Race 2 starts in warmer conditions than Saturday, moving the focus even further on tyre management. The German rider started well, then a small mistake took him to the outside, thus being overtaken by Van der Mark and Axel Bassani. While the former struggled to maintain the pace, the Italian managed to take a slight advantage, which would later prove decisive in winning the Best Independent. Oettl comes back, takes advantage of his great speed in the last sector and in braking at turn 1 to take position on the BMW’s Dutch and, a few laps later, on Vierge. He closes the gap on Lecuona and Axel, arriving in the slipstream of the Spaniard, but on the other side he defends himself perfectly from the other Honda. Seventh place, great consistency of results, and another excellent performance at Motorland Aragon. It’s a shame because even today the title of best Independent faded for a few seconds, it seemed more within reach than yesterday, but when it comes to the top five positions it’s never easy to reach them, thanks to the opponents.

Race 2:  
P 1    A. Bautista    33’20.785
P 2    T. Razgatlioglu   + 4.064
P 3    M. Rinaldi   + 7.109
…
P 7   P. Oettl   + 18.152

If from the summer break good improvements seems to be showed by Team Go Eleven’s Ducati Panigale V4-R, the tenth WorldSBK Round certified how good had appeared since Magny-Cours. In France the glass was half empty due to the difficulties in emerging from the group, here in Aragon the Italian team came close to the maximum possible result; It’s difficult to ask for more even today, but by maintaining this consistency of results, we can aim really high in the last two rounds. WorldSBK doesn’t stop, after a few days dedicated to the travel of the entire circus and staff, we’re back on track in Portimao, 29 – 01 September!

Philipp Oettl (Rider):

“Great weekend here in Aragon! Today the eighth position in the Superpole Race was really important for our Race 2’s start. Another P 7 in the afternoon, quite solid result. I am happy with the guys, they did a good job, today the feeling on the was quite different, maybe cause the track conditions were different, too. In the last laps of race 2 we were able to set a good pace and come back from P 11. The bike works really well, today we could also keep a more consistent pace, more linear for all the 18 laps. Now we move to Portimao, i really like the track, I hope we can continue in the right direction and achieve other stunning results!”

Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):

“Really positive weekend here in Aragon! We have never collected so many points this year in a single weekend, and Philipp is proving that he has not lost motivation, just as the team has never lost confidence. We are working together well and we are confirming ourselves in the fight for the Top independent of each race, here it narrowly missed out on us in both manches, but round after round we got back to where we wanted to be. I’m also happy with the approach to the race, here Philipp was decisive and aggressive from the first laps. Now we have to continue like this, constantly stay in the top eight and try to get some satisfaction when the right opportunity comes!”