Philipp Oettl ran into the pits to change tyres

Philipp Oettl after pointing with smiley

Almost 20 years after his father won his last race, Philipp Oettl secures his first Moto3 World Championship podium.

Throughout the year Philipp Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) has shown flashes of speed with frequent visits to the top five during practice. But, as in Indianapolis, there have usually been problems in Qualifying. For Sunday’s race Oettl started down in 34th, dead last, after a crash in the Qualifying. Just before the Moto3 riders lined up on the grid it began to rain, but by the time the lights went out the track was drying. Oettl with little to lose, dove into the pits to change his tyres to slicks at the first opportunity

While many other riders waited till their second or third lap to change, Oettl was already on track pushing. Livio Loi (RW Racing GP) had started on slicks and had already disappeared into the distance, but John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) was within striking distance. Push as hard he may, the young German was unable to catch McPhee and instead settled for third, claiming his debut podium. This comes 19 years and two months after his father, Peter Oettl, claimed his last podium at Mugello in 1996.

Philipp Oettl left on wet tyres, I think it was the wrong decision and I ran into the pits to change tyres as quickly as possible. The team made a really amazing job today and I went straight back out and pushed every lap. To have a gap at the end was important because there were still spots of rain and I just said please don’t rain.