Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Racing Team´s Sandro Cortese and Danny Kent had a tough fight until the last meters of the finish line of Assen circuit at the season´s seventh GP of the Moto3 class. The extremely even and exciting Dutch TT was eventually won slightly by Spanish Maverick Vinales. German Cortese crossed the finish line second and Danny Kent, try who took the first podium position of his career, check celebrated third place, only 11 thousandth of seconds from his teammate. The fight behind the winner was so tight that a photo analysis was required to decide the positions. Kent was announced to be third only one thousandth of a second apart from Spanish Luis Salom.
“Of course it´s a pity that we didn´t win but two riders of the team on the podium is always great”, said team leader Aki Ajo, “The most positive thing was clearly our good race speed. We are in great place now before the two GPs in a row at Sachsenring and at Mugello”, highlighted Ajo.

Tough fight

Pole man Cortese and Kent had all the chances for a double victory in the extremely tight and eventful competition. When the last lap started Kent was in lead while Cortese and Vinales were just behind him. However, Vinales managed to push even harder in the last corners and took the victory.
Cortese, who is second in championship standing seven points from Vinales, highlighted that he had a good feeling and was riding only for the victory. Along the tough battles he also touched Kent´s bike three times.
“I was confident and I really gave everything today starting from the first lap”, said Cortese, “I just wanted to win but this is good as well. Second position and the points are extremely important when it comes to the overall situation. I can´t deny that it bugged me that I lost my chances for the victory when Salom missed his gear in the last corners and I lost my rhythm.”
Kent reached his normal level two weeks ago at Silverstone in front of his home crowd and found now that kind of speed that his first victory can´t be too far away.
“I hope that this was the breaking point and I will get plenty of podium places along the season”, Kent said, “But I was also lucky today and it was good that I even managed to reach the finish line since it was such a tough battle also with Sandro. It was a great battle and I enjoyed it a lot.”
Cortese´s and Kent´s bikes touched each other’s sometimes quite dangerously.
“It was a really hard fight man against man”, said Ajo, “On the other hand they both saw at that stage that Vinales was going so fast that there was a chance that he will pull away. We will once again learn from these things and improve the team work even more.”
Cortese´s and Kent´s teammate Arthur Sissis ended up being 16 and slightly missed the World Championship points. However, he was only half a second from 13th place and less than 13 seconds from the winner.
The times show how exciting the 22-laps´ race on the 4542 meters long Assen circuit was.
The next GP is held already next weekend at Sachsenring circuit in Germany.

IVECO TT ASSEN
Moto3 Race Classification:
1. Maverick Vinales Spain, Blusens Avintia, FTR Honda 38.45,432
2. Sandro Cortese Germany, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 0,831
3. Danny Kent Great Britain, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 0,842
4. Luis Salom Spain, RW Racing GP, Kalex KTM + 0,843
5. Louis Rossi France, Racing Team Germany, FTR Honda + 1,352
6. Alex Rins Spain, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 5,033
7. Alexis Masbou France, Caretta Technology, + 7,817
8. Niklas Ajo Finland, TT Motion Events Racing, KTM + 7,855
9. Efren Vazquez Spain, JHK Laglisse, FTR Honda + 8,037
10. Miguel Oliveira Portugal, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 8,243
11. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Malaysia, AirAsia-Sic-Ajo, KTM + 8,378
12. Romano Fenati Italy, Team Italia FMI, FTR Honda + 8,559
13. Jakub Kornfeil Czech, Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta, FTR Honda + 12,133
14. Toni Finsterbusch Germany, Cresto Guide MZ Racing, Honda + 12,358
15. Hector Faubel Spain, Bankia Aspar Team, Kalex KTM + 12,533
16. Arthur Sissis Australia, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 12,654

World Championship Standing:
1. Vinales 130
2. Cortese 123
3. Salom 88
4. Fenati 65
5. Rossi 56
6. Rins 54
7. Masbou 51
8. Khairuddin 49
9. Kent 42
10. Oliveira 39
11. Niccolo Antonelli Italy, FTR Honda 38
12. Alberto Moncayo Spain, Kalex KTM 36
13. Sissis 31
14. Vazquez 29
15. Hector Faubel Spain, Kalex KTM 29
19. Ajo 14

Next GP: 8th of July Sachsenring, Germany.