Cortese extends his lead to 46 points after San Marino victory

16/09/2012

Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Racing Team´s Sandro Cortese improved his situation in the championship lead of Moto3-class after winning the GP of San Marino from the pole.
German´s third victory of the season gave him a 46 point lead when five GPs remain, health next one being after two weeks at Aragon circuit in Spain.
After a nail-bighting race Cortese kept his head cool and made his move in the last lap pulling away at the front and leaving others from the tight front group to fight for the other positions.
“One of my best victories, diagnosis but at the same time also one of my hardest races”, describes Cortese, who took his 11th podium place of the season.
“During the last two laps I gave 200 % of myself because the last half of the lap is easier to ride alone than within the group of five”, says relieved Cortese.
Cortese took the chequered flag 0,467 seconds in front of Spanish Luis Salom. Italian Romano Fenati crossed the finish line 0,937 seconds after Cortese.
Championship second, Spanish Maverick Vinales started from 11th place but fought his way up to the front. Vinales challenged Cortese still in the beginning of the last lap until he ran wide. In the end Vinales lost few more positions and finished fifth.
“Today it was occasionally hard to keep my concentration because I knew that Maverick was coming fast behind me”, says Cortese, who also celebrated his victory in Portugal and in Germany.
Cortese, who has done steady and good work starting from the beginning of the season, got once again well deserved praises and some advices for the future from his team leader Aki Ajo.
“We have now a nice championship lead but we don´t dare to say yet that we are safe”, Ajo says, “In the future we have to be careful, stay relaxed and ride sensibly according to all the current situations”, Ajo reminds.
Cortese´s teammates Australian Arthur Sissis was tenth and Briton Danny Kent 12th. Sissis was 10,872 from Cortese and Kent 14,604 seconds.
“I made few mistakes and run wide”, said Kent, who started from second row, “In the end I managed to find a good rhythm again but this time I didn´t have chances for better places.”

GP APEROL DI SAN MARINO E RIVIERA DI RIMINI
Moto3 Race Classification:
1. Sandro Cortese Germany, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM 40.22,100
2. Luis Salom Spain, RW Racing GP, Kalex KTM + 0,467
3. Romano Fenati Italy, Team Italia FMI, FTR Honda + 0,937
4. Alex Rins Spain, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 0,974
5. Maverick Vinales Spain, Blusens Avintia, FTR Honda + 1,145
6. Jonas Folger Germany, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3, Kalex KTM + 1,180
7. Efren Vazquez Spain, JHK t-shirt Laglisse, FTR Honda + 1,315
8. Niccolo Antonelli Italy, San Carlo Gresini Moto3, FTR Honda + 3,983
9. Miguel Oliveira Portugal, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 4,376
10. Arthur Sissis Australia, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 10,872
11. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Malaysia, AirAsia-Sic-Ajo, KTM + 14,499
12. Danny Kent Great Britain, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 14,604
13. Hector Faubel Spain, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3, Kalex KTM + 14,880
14. Alberto Moncayo Spain, Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse, FTR Honda + 21,011
15. Jakub Kornfeil Czech, Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta, FTR Honda + 21,062
Niklas Ajo Finland, TT Motion Events Racing, KTM: retired 2 laps before finish

World Championship standing:
1. Cortese 225
2. Vinales 179
3. Salom 169
4. Fenati 120
5. Rins 96
6. Alexis Masbou France, Honda 81
7. Khairuddin 81
8. Kent 70
9. Oliveira 66
10. Antonelli 63
11. Louis Rossi France, FTR Honda 59
12. Vazquez 59
13. Folger 56
14. Kornfeil 53
15. Faubel 52
16. Sissis 51
19. Ajo 21

Next GP: 30th of September Aragon, Spain.

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