Oettl and Alt to start from front row at home race
Philipp Oettl and Florian Alt, the two 15 year old Germans, teamed up to put themselves on the front row of the grid for the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup races at the Sachsenring. The were split by 18 year old Czech Tomas Vavrous heading into the German Grand Prix weekend, the 10th and 11th races in the series.
Sitting on pole position with a time 6 tenths seconds better than any previous Rookies qualifying is Oettl. “The bike is brilliant, just perfect. Flo’ and I had a plan and it worked very well for us. That was good for practice but the race is different, impossible to have a plan, just ride,” said the winner of the opening race of the season in Jerez now fully recovered from his broken collarbone.
Alt was just as happy to be 3rd. “That was great fun, Philipp and I talked before about working together a bit. We both know the track and we knew that we could use each other’s slipstream to gain an advantage. It worked very well. After the morning session I wanted to make the bike turn in quicker so we lowered the front and raised the rear a little. That worked well and I’m happy with the bike for the race. No plan…. just action!!”
For Vavrous it was all about working on his own and concentrating. “I’m very happy and the bike is great. I didn’t have any serious slides or anything. I realised that when I didn’t make any mistakes I was fast so at the beginning of the second qualifying I concentrated on putting in some good laps. Then I got hungry so I stopped for a banana,” he added with a big smile.
Heading the 2nd row of the grid is Dutch 15 year Scott Deroue. He has made sensational advances since the start of the year when he was last and almost a lap behind. “Now I am friends with the bike,” he explained. “In Jerez I wasn’t happy on the bike at all, it was very different to the Honda I had been riding. Now I am happy with it and enjoying it. I like this track and we put a bigger rear sprocket on after the free practice this morning and now the bike is working great.”
Alan Techer, the 16 year old Frenchman looked set to threaten Deroue and even the front row Rookies but had to be content with 6th as he just could put the right lap together at the end. “It is my first time here and it was very difficult to learn this morning. It is better now but we still have some work to do on the bike, it was sliding a lot through the fast climbing left handers so we will change something for the race.”
Also learning was Lorenzo Baldassarri who qualified 10th. “It was very hard this morning it is a difficult track. This afternoon was OK but towards the end when I wanted to improve my lap times I seemed to get tangled up with the other riders. I hope I can do a better job in the race,” concluded the 14 year old Italian.
Ahead of him on the grid in 7th place is arch rival for the Cup and points leader Arthur Sissis, the 16 year old Australian. “That was not great, I wanted to get a clear run but it didn’t happen, there’s nothing wrong with the bike, I’ve just got to go for it.”
Sissis leads Baldassarri by 7 points in the championship with 5 races remaining. The first is on Saturday at 16.30 CET and Sunday’s race starts at 15.30. Both can be seen on TV around the world and on www.redbull.tv with the shows starting 10 minutes before the races.
Source: Red Bull Rookies Cup
