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17 Oktoober 2020

Oettl Second After Red Flagged Race

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing’s Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rode to a determined second place today in a final 12-lap race at Estoril after a red flag had stopped the first attempted race. Lucas Mahias was involved in a collision with another rider and taken out of the action after only a two corners of the restarted race.

In a dramatic opening contest for all riders in the WorldSSP grid the Saturday race was red flagged after only four laps and a restart over 12-laps was called. Front row qualifier Mahias had been ranked third and Öttl fourth before the red flag was shown.

Shortly after the second and potentially even more intense WorldSSP contest began, Magny Cours race winner Mahias was forced to retire when another rider hit him and he ran wide at turn two.

Öttl, who had been a second row qualifier in fourth place after Superpole, overtook Hannes Soomer to take second and set about chasing the eventual race winner and 2020 champion, Andrea Locatelli.

He closed in for a time but finally had to settle for second place, just 1.591 seconds behind the winner for another podium result - his fourth of the season so far with one more WorldSSP race to go on Sunday.

Of most importance, Philipp is now much closer to a potential third place finish overall, with Lucas having already guaranteed himself second in the championship.

Lucas Mahias, stated: “A short race for me today. In the second corner of a 12-lap race De Rosa tried to overtake me and if you are not Johnny Rea it is not possible to overtake there. He lost the front and then pushed me to the exit of the track. I tried to save it but I was worried to break my leg because the bike jumped a lot. The fairing was under the wheel and it was impossible to carry on. Tomorrow we have another race.”

Philipp Öttl, stated: “There was big confusion because I saw De Rosa and Mahias going down. I saw Soomer in front of me and I needed some time to clear the head and then go-go-go. It was a good race but I couldn’t catch up to Locatelli. The bike was OK but the feeling on the track was completely different, even compared with the Superpole session and I was closing the front at times. The last two laps I tried to defend a little bit as I had not looked behind and we finished P2. We got a lot of points for us and for the championship, which is really important. Now it is only two points to Cluzel for third.”

Can Öncü (Turkish Puccetti Racing), who will race in the full Kawasaki Puccetti Racing WorldSSP squad in 2021 alongside Öttl, was a strong sixth today. He only just came out on top of a close fight with another Ninja ZX-6R rider, Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) – by 0.007 seconds.

                              #NinjaSpirit