Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Racing Team´s German rider Sandro Cortese had an incredible battle for the victory in season´s ninth GP at circuit of Mugello in Italy.
Six laps before the finish line the race turned out to be a thriller of three riders that was going to be solved on the finish line. Then it was Spanish Maverick Vinales who managed to keep Italian Romano Fenati and Cortese barely behind him. Fenati was a mere two hundredths of a second from Vinales and Cortese 0,072 seocnds.
“I did everything I could to win this race and the battle was really hard”, said Cortese, “I passed Vinales in the last lap and I already expected my plan to work out. But, it took also a bit of luck to win this race, the battle was so tight.”
Cortese has done a really good job in the Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Racing Team and can now head to the more than a month long summer break with relieved mind before the season continues in the middle of August at Indianapolis in USA.
Cortese leads the series by nine points over Vinales. Spanish Luis Salom is third 60 points from Cortese.
“I am really pleased with the season so far”, said team leader Aki Ajo, “Today again we made a good battle over the victory. The summer break starts but everyone will keep on working hard. Now we have to analyse how we can still improve.”
Cortese´s teammate Briton Danny Kent crossed the finish line in fifth 5,836 seconds from the winner. He was only 48 thousandth of seconds from fourth place. Kent had a good pace during the whole weekend starting from first practices.
“It was a shame that I had some extra things during the race”, said Kent, “In the beginning Rossi (Louis) hit me and it was good that I didn´t fell. Later Antonelli (Niccolo) had so frantic moves that the front trio managed to escape from us.”
KTM´s factory racing team´s third rider Arthur Sissis made his way up from 20th place of the grid and was at his best 11th. Unfortunately the Australian´s race ended up after five laps.
“They will inspect what happened but the bike just simply stalled”, explained Sissis, “I don´t know, it might be that there was an electrical problem. It´s a shame because in the race I found a really good feeling and a pace compared to the practices. After nine GPs Kent is tenth and Sissis 14th in championship standing.

GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA TIM
Moto3 Race Classification:
1. Maverick Vinales Spain, Blusens Avintia, FTR Honda 39.57,374
2. Romano Fenati Italy, Team Italia FMI, FTR Honda + 0,020
3. Sandro Cortese Germany, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 0,071
4. Niccolo Antonelli Italy, San Carlo Gresini Moto3, FTR Honda + 5,788
5. Danny Kent Great Britain, Red Bull KTM Ajo, KTM + 5,836
6. Efren Vazquez Spain, JHK Laglisse, FTR Honda + 5,860
7. Alex Rins Spain, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Suter Honda + 5,906
8. Jakub Kornfeil Czech, Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta, FTR Honda + 18,195
9. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Malaysia, AirAsia-Sic-Ajo, KTM + 19,232
10. Hector Faubel Spain, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3, Kalex KTM + 19,308
11. Niklas Ajo Finland, TT Motion Events Racing, KTM + 35,855
12. Alexis Masbou France, Caretta Technology, Honda + 35,872
13. Adrian Martin Spain, JHK Laglisse, FTR Honda + 36,175
14. Kevin Calia Italy, Elle 2 Ciatti, Honda + 36,195
15. Michael Ruben Rinaldi Italy, Racing Team Gabrielli, Honda + 36,270

World Championship standing:
1. Cortese 164
2. Vinales 155
3. Luis Salom Spain, Kalex KTM 104
4. Fenati 85
5. Masbou 75
6. Khairuddin 66
7. Rins 63
8. Louis Rossi France, FTR Honda 56
9. Antonelli 55
10. Kent 53
11. Vazquez 50
12. Faubel 44
13. Miguel Oliveira Portugal, Suter Honda 39
14. Arthur Sissis Australia, Red Bull KTM Ajo 38
15. Alberto Moncayo Spain, 36
18. Ajo 21

Next GP: 19th of August Indianapolis, USA.