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Öttl And Öncü Look To New Challenge
Kawasaki Puccetti Racing pairing Philipp Öttl and Can Öncü will face an-all new challenge in the forthcoming fifth round of the FIM Supersport World Championship at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic between 6-8 August.
The 4.212km long circuit in the north west of the country has never been used for this level of racing before and neither of the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing squad members have raced or tested there on their Ninja ZX-6R WorldSSP machines.
Philipp has been to the circuit, having ridden his training bike around Most for half a day, meaning he will enter the weekend with some degree of understand of the track layout.
Both riders will enter the Czech round with particularly high levels of confidence after the fourth round at Assen. Philipp scored a third and then a second place in the Netherlands, with Can scoring two seventh places after competing well with riders of much more experience.
The next main goal for Öttl is to claim his first race win in WorldSSP, having now recorded nine career podiums in two years in WorldSSP racing. He has taken five podiums in eight races this season already.
Given his podium prowess and with just one DNF on his record in 2021 Philipp is third in the championship rankings. He made up ground on the second placed rider Steven Odendaal at Assen, and is now 17 points behind. Championship leader Dominique Aegerter is 61 points ahead of Öttl at present but - including the forthcoming weekend at Most - there are 16 individual races left to run across eight scheduled rounds.
At an earlier stage of his career than his team-mate Öncü is impressing many with his ability to run in some fast company. Having just turned 18 years of age Can is out to set as personal best race result and ideally his first podium finish in his second year in this class.
Sitting in overall tenth place at present Can has scored good points in all but two races of the eight run so far at tracks as diverse as Motorland Aragon, Estoril, Misano and Assen.
After the weekend action has been completed at Most the championship heads to another track that will be all new for the WorldSSP riders, Navarra in Northern Spain, between 20-22 August.
Philipp Öttl, stated: “I think Most is a very nice track. A little bit old, but I know it from training there. I have been there for half a day on my training bike and the experience was quite nice. The asphalt is new for most of the track except the first chicane and the main straight. The track should suit the Kawasaki quite well because it’s fast, it’s flowing and we need a lot of stability. I hope we can continue like we finished in Assen. We had a great weekend there - a front row start and two podium finishes. I think together with the team we can find a good set-up for the Most racetrack as well. I think we can be positive for this race. Not everyone has experience of Most, but our rivals Aegerter and Odendaal were there, so it will not be easy. We will give our best and we will see where we end up - but I am positive.”
Can Öncü, stated: “I feel I am ready for the Most round because I had a really good feeling in Assen. We lost the chance of a podium by a very small margin and a little bit of a mistake in the last corners. I am looking forward positively to Most and I cannot wait to ride the bike, enjoy it and have some fun on track. We will see what happens but I hope it is a really, really great race weekend for us.“
Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) currently sits ninth in the championship with a second place finish to his credit already, at round one at Motorland Aragon.
Michel Fabrizio (Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) is 22nd in the championship and Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 27th.
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