Öttl out of French Superpole after a few minutes: crash and retirement after an excellent third place in the morning's free practice

Philipp Öttl

“FP1 went well. I felt really comfortable on the bike after such a long break and was happy with third place. As for qualifying, I am very sorry for the team because it was my mistake. I felt good on the bike and pushed immediately, but crashed on the very first lap.

There’s little else to say, honestly. I felt comfortable, tried to push from the start, and went a bit over the limit.

Tomorrow, the goal is to set a lap that allows us to get into the top nine for Race 2. Other than that, scoring points is the main objective.

First, we need to sort out the bike and make the most of the warm-up, then we’ll see what we can do in the race. It’s a track that offers several overtaking opportunities, but I’ll need to move up quickly. We have the pace, but we need to gain positions fast.”