EWC: Davies withdraws, Philipp Oettl to replace him on the Ducati

The ERC Ducati team can’t catch a break during this initial part of the 2022 Endurance World Championship. First came injury for its rider Lorenzo Zanetti during the opening CIV Superbike round at Misano, which led team CEO Uwe Reinhardt to revise the line-up for Le Mans, calling upon Chaz Davies to flank Xavi Fores and David Checa.

Then, this morning, the news that the Welshman has been struck down by a virus just a few hours before he should have made his official debut during tomorrow’s qualifying. As ERC is a German-managed team, who has it selected to replace Davies alongside Fores and Checa?

It could only be a German rider, a man who currently competes in WorldSBK with the Ducati V4R of team GO Eleven and who goes by the name of Philipp Oettl. Philipp will shortly arrive in Le Mans to join the rest of the team before heading out on track tomorrow for the first qualifying session ahead of the race, which will get underway at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Translated by Heather Watson

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