Cortese finishes second and extends his lead by 51 points

30/09/2012

Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Racing Team´s Sandro Cortese extended his championship lead of the historical Moto3 series when season´s 13th GP was held in Spain.
Cortese finished second on sunny Aragon circuit and now leads the championship already by 51 points when four GPs of the season remain.
“The championship lead is good and I can head to the next GP held in Japan with a bit more relaxed feeling”, salve Cortese says, “This weekend was really difficult what comes to the weather and I was a bit nervous before the race”, admits Cortese who took his 12th podium place of the season.
The thriller continued again until the last lap, which Cortese started in the lead. However, Spanish Luis Salom and German pole man Jonas Folger managed to pass him by. Salom kept the first place and crossed the finish line first in front of his home crowd but Folger had to give up for Cortese when the duo head to the last corner.
“I really wanted to win this race but I just didn´t have enough energy this time”, Cortese explains, “I was sick the whole weekend”.
Salom bet Cortese by 0,155 seconds and is now second in championship. Maverick Vinales came to Aragon as championship second but he had to retire from the race already in the warm up lap when his bike dramatically suffered a technical problem. Vinales has taken five victories during the season and is now third 66 points from Cortese.
“I didn´t follow Vinales´s situation because I was so concentrated on the race”, Cortese says.
Team leader Aki Ajo was once again pleased with Cortese who has been extremely confident rider this season.
“Great performance from Sandro especially since he has a really bad flue.”
Ajo´s two previous world championships help him to know exactly how to go on now.
“The lead extended nicely but we can´t think too much about the points. We take one race at a time and keep our concentration high. We have to work properly and enjoy riding”, Ajo says informing Cortese.
Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Racing Team´s good success was complemented by Briton Danny Kent who finished fourth and by Australian Arthur Sissis who made his way up to ninth.
Kent lead the race in the end of the thriller but in a last lap he had a set back and was out from the podium. Kent was only 1,115 seconds from the winner.
“Vazquez (Efren) hit me a bit ugly and I went wide”, Kent explains, “It´s a shame because I had today all the chances to be in top three. But all in all it was a good race, which boosted my self confidence”.
In the second part of the 20 laps long race Sissis was at his best eight until he made a small mistake. His fight to reach the leading group came to an end.
“But in the end I was only 2,4 seconds from the winner, which makes me feel good”, pleased Sissis says, “I just have to learn from my mistakes and continue the GP season with positive mind”.
The championship season continues on 14th of October at Motegi circuit in Japan.

GRAN PREMIO IVECO DE ARAGÓN
Moto3 Race Classification:
1. Luis Salom Spain, RW Racing GP, Kalex KTM 40.56,391
2. Sandro Cortese Germany, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 0,155
3. Jonas Folger Germany, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3, Kalex KTM + 0,362
4. Danny Kent Great Britain, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 1,115
5. Efren Vazquez Spain, JHK t-shirt Laglisse, FTR Honda + 1,160
6. Alex Rins Spain, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 1,765
7. Louis Rossi France, Racing Team Germany, FTR Honda + 1,839
8. Miguel Oliveira Portugal, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 1,972
9. Arthur Sissis Australia, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 2,415
10. Niccolo Antonelli Italy, San Carlo Gresini Moto3, FTR Honda + 2,587
11. Jakub Kornfeil Czech, Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta, FTR Honda + 2,845
12. Alessandro Tonucci Italy, Team Italia FMI, FTR Honda + 3,067
13. Alberto Moncayo Spain, Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse, FTR Honda + 3,763
14. Niklas Ajo Finland, TT Motion Events Racing, KTM + 14,899
15. Alex Marquez Spain, Ambrogio Next Racing, Suter Honda + 15,041
Zulfahmi Khairuddin Malaysia, AirAsia-Sic-Ajo, KTM: keskeytys 6 kierrosta ennen maalia.

World Championship Standing:
1. Cortese 245
2. Salom 194
3. Maverick Vinales Spain, FTR Honda 179
4. Romano Fenati Italy, FTR Honda 120
5. Alex Rins Spain, Suter Honda 106
6. Kent 83
7. Alexis Masbou France, Honda 81
8. Khairuddin 81
9. Oliveira 74
10. Folger 72
11. Vazquez 70
12. Antonelli 69
13. Rossi 68
14. Sissis 58
15. Jakub Kornfeil Czech, FTR Honda 58
18. Ajo 23

Next GP: 14th of October Motegi, Japan.

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