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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

16 Lokakuu 2021

Race One Podium For Öncü

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Can Öncü took his second podium of the season after scoring third place in the first 19-lap WorldSSP race at the Circuito San Juan Villicum in Argentina. His team-mate Philipp Öttl finished 11th after suffering some physical issues during the latter part of the race.

In Superpole qualifying on Saturday morning Öncü was a career best fourth fastest and very close to the second best rider’s time. Öttl was 11th on the grid as he continued to try to find the optimum set-up before the first race.

A positive start to the 19-lap Saturday race from Öncü saw him take an early lead at the 4.276km long Villicum circuit, but soon after eventual race winner Jules Cluzel re-passed him and gradually moved into a clear lead.

Öttl would fight with Manuel Gonzalez for second place for a time and only lose that track position on lap 11. Can would finish a strong third, exactly seven seconds behind Cluzel.

Öncü’s podium was the second of his season and lifted him up three places into seventh in the championship standings.

For Philipp pain and a loss of strength from his left arm caused him issues in finding his best potential pace and he lost a few places at the end to finish 11th.

One more WorldSSP race remains to be run at Villicum, on Sunday 17 October.

Can Öncü, stated: “First of all I want to say thank you to Kenan Sofuoglu because we worked a lot for this podium. We have taken what we have waited for for a long time. This weekend the team gave me a very impressive bike and I want to say thank you to them, all my supporters, my family and my brother Deniz. He said ‘hello’ from the Moto3 podium and now I said it back to him.”

Philipp Öttl, stated: “It is a difficult weekend at the moment. In the beginning of the race it was fine but in the middle I got problems with my left arm and I couldn’t really brake hard any more. I don’t know why but that was, in the end, the big problem. On Friday we were far behind but in qualifying it was a little bit better. The beginning of the race was fine but at the finish it was not what we want.”

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) was seventh in Superpole qualifying but fell from top six contention in the 19-lap Race One.

Jeffrey Buis (G.A.P. Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) was 18th in his first ever WorldSSP race.

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