South Australian Arthur Sissis has taken sixth position in the first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race of the season at Jerez in Spain on Saturday.

Philipp Oettl won with a brilliant outbraking move on Brad Binder with one and a half laps remaining.

The 14-year-old German was super smooth throughout the 16 laps and chased down early leader Binder even though the 15-year-old South African also put in an almost perfect performance.

Oettl did not make a great start from second place on the grid and while pole position man Binder shot away into the lead ahead of Italian Lorenzo Baldassarri and Frenchman Alan Techer Oettl completed the first lap in fifth place behind Sissis.

Binder paced himself well and had soon opened up a lead of almost a second over his rivals.

Sissis so nearly crashed on lap two as he charged into second and chased Binder through the fast right hander coming back to the start and finish.

His skill on the dirt saved the day and he fought for control in a long run through the gravel trap that dropped him to 10th. A couple of shaky laps followed and he dropped to 11th before beginning a climb back.

Oettl was up to third by the end of lap two and then passed Techer to take second. The Frenchman tucked in behind and also pulled Baldassarri clear of the rest of the pack.

“It wasn’t a great start.” recalled Oettl. “I had to work hard in the opening laps to get back up into second but then I was happy and I could find a good rhythm.

“It just kept going as fast as I could without making any mistakes and the bike was working very well so I felt good about catching Brad.

“As I caught him I was thinking that I would have to pass him on the brakes into the last corner but then I had the chance at the end of the back straight and I took it.”

The German’s pace had been 1.5 seconds quicker than the lap that put him second on the grid and even though Binder also bettered his pole time by over 1.2 seconds it wasn’t enough.

The pace run by Oettl and Binder was too much for the followers but Techer and Baldassarri both kept good rhythm in what became lonely rides for both of them.

Sunday’s race starts at 15.30 CET and can be seen on TV in over 40 countries and via live stream both on www.redbullrookiescup.com and on www.redbull.com.