Sandro Cortese

Alessandro "Sandro" Cortese (born January 6, 1990) is a German motorcycle racer, currently competing in the Moto2 Grand Prix World Championship. Cortese won his first world title in the Moto3 class, in 2012.^[2] He lives in Berkheim, Germany.

Cortese contested every race from his Grand Prix début in 2005 until the 2016 French Grand Prix, where he missed the race due to a knee injury.^[3]

Career

National racing

Cortese was born in Ochsenhausen, West Germany, as the son of an Italian father and a German mother. He started his career at the age of nine on pocket bikes and was European Pocket Bike champion as well as German Mini Bike champion. He competed in the German ITM Championship in the 125cc class, finishing 10th.^[1]

125cc World Championship

Cortese made his 125cc World Championship debut with Kiefer-Bos-Castrol Honda in 2005, finishing the season in 26th place with 8 points. His best finish was 14th place in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. In 2006, he switched to the 2005 125cc Championship-winning team, Elit – Caffè Latte Honda as team mate to 125cc World Champion Thomas Lüthi. He made steady progress scoring some championship points, His best result was in the Portuguese Grand Prix in 10th place, improving his championship standing to 17th place with 23 points.

In 2007 his team was renamed Emmi – Caffè Latte and it switched to Aprilia motorbikes. Lüthi moved up to 250cc, also with Aprilia. Cortese improved in 2007, finishing most of the season's races in the top 10, including 7th places in the French, the Italian and German Grands Prix. He finished the championship in 14th place with 66 points. For 2008 he rode a works Aprilia RSA 125. The 2008 season started poorly for him, finishing outside the top 8 at the first five races. His fortunes changed for the better after Mugello and he finished consistently in the top eight. In the Australian Grand Prix he crashed while leading but managed to recover to sixth and helped Mike Di Meglio to win the championship by finishing ahead of Simone Corsi, Di Meglio's championship rival. In the Malaysian Grand Prix he rode the fastest lap of the race despite starting 18th on the grid to finish fourth. He was the only 125cc rider to finish all races that year, gaining points in every race except in China.

In 2009, Cortese rode for the Finnish Ajo Motorsport team that took Di Meglio to his 125cc World Championship. He replaced Di Meglio and teamed up with Dominique Aegerter, running factory Derbi RSA 125 bikes. Cortese finished on the podium three times and ended up sixth in the championship.

For 2010 he rode a Derbi again, for Ajo Motorsport. He was teamed up with Marc Márquez and Adrián Martín, with each rider running different sponsorship. Cortese took two podiums during the season, at the Sachsenring and Indianapolis. He also achieved pole position in Italy, and finished seventh in the championship.

For the 2011 season, Cortese moved to Dirk Heidolf's Racing Team Germany outfit, as a single-bike entry.^[4] He took second-place finishes in Qatar and Portugal, before taking his first Grand Prix victory – in his 109th start – in the Czech Republic, having battled with Johann Zarco in the closing stages of the race.^[5] Cortese eventually ended the season fourth in the championship.

Moto2 World Championship

In 2014, Cortese recorded his first podium finish in Moto2 at Brno.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

By season

Season	Class	Team	Motorcycle	Type	Races	Wins	Podiums	Poles	Fastest Laps	Pts	Position
2005	125cc	Kiefer-Bos-Castrol Honda	Honda	Honda RS125R	16	0	0	0	0	8	26th
2006	125cc	Elit – Caffè Latte	Honda	Honda RS125R	16	0	0	0	0	23	17th
2007	125cc	Emmi – Caffè Latte	Aprilia	Aprilia RS125	17	0	0	0	0	66	14th
2008	125cc	Emmi – Caffè Latte	Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 125	17	0	0	0	1	141	8th
2009	125cc	Ajo Interwetten	Derbi	Derbi RSA 125	16	0	3	1	2	130	6th
2010	125cc	Avant-Mitsubishi-Ajo	Derbi	Derbi RS 125 R	17	0	2	1	2	143	7th
2011	125cc	Intact-Racing Team Germany	Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 125	17	2	6	1	2	225	4th
2012	Moto3	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	KTM RC250GP	17	5	15	7	4	325	1st
2013	Moto2	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	17	0	0	0	0	22	19th
2014	Moto2	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	18	0	1	0	0	85	9th
2015	Moto2	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	18	0	1	0	0	90	11th
2016	Moto2	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	17	0	1	0	0	61	15th
Total					203	7	29	10	11	1319

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2005–2011	2005 Spain	2009 Qatar	2011 Czech Republic	116	2	11	3	7	736	0
Moto3	2012	2012 Qatar	2012 Qatar	2012 Portugal	17	5	15	7	4	325	1
Moto2	2013–2016	2013 Qatar	2014 Czech Republic		70	0	3	0	0	258	0
Total	2005–Present				203	7	29	10	11	1319	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2005	125cc	Honda	SPA 20	POR 25	CHN Ret	FRA 15	ITA Ret	CAT 23	NED 24	GBR 15	GER 14	CZE 14	JPN Ret	MAL 21	QAT 17	AUS 19	TUR 14	VAL Ret			26th	8
2006	125cc	Honda	SPA 16	QAT Ret	TUR 16	CHN 17	FRA 15	ITA Ret	CAT 19	NED 14	GBR 14	GER 13	CZE 11	MAL 17	AUS 14	JPN 14	POR 10	VAL 18			17th	23
2007	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 17	SPA 7	TUR Ret	CHN 18	FRA 7	ITA 7	CAT 11	GBR 12	NED 8	GER 7	CZE 10	RSM 15	POR Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 10	MAL Ret	VAL Ret		14th	66
2008	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 11	SPA 10	POR 10	CHN 16	FRA 11	ITA 8	CAT 8	GBR 9	NED 4	GER 6	CZE 7	RSM 7	IND 5	JPN 6	AUS 6	MAL 4	VAL 5		8th	141
2009	125cc	Derbi	QAT 3	JPN 6	SPA 6	FRA 12	ITA 10	CAT 9	NED Ret	GER 6	GBR Ret	CZE 6	IND 18	RSM 5	POR 2	AUS 3	MAL 6	VAL 8			6th	130
2010	125cc	Derbi	QAT 5	SPA 11	FRA 6	ITA Ret	GBR 6	NED 5	CAT 4	GER 3	CZE 16	IND 2	RSM 5	ARA 5	JPN 12	MAL 6	AUS Ret	POR Ret	VAL 5		7th	143
2011	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 2	SPA 6	POR 2	FRA 7	CAT 4	GBR 7	NED 4	ITA 12	GER 8	CZE 1	IND 3	RSM 4	ARA 7	JPN 5	AUS 1	MAL 2	VAL Ret		4th	225
2012	Moto3	KTM	QAT 3	SPA 3	POR 1	FRA 6	CAT 2	GBR 3	NED 2	GER 1	ITA 3	IND 2	CZE 3	RSM 1	ARA 2	JPN 6	MAL 1	AUS 1	VAL 2		1st	325
2013	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 17	AME 25	SPA 18	FRA 12	ITA 14	CAT Ret	NED 14	GER 14	IND 16	CZE Ret	GBR 20	RSM Ret	ARA 10	MAL Ret	AUS 11	JPN 15	VAL 16		19th	22
2014	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 7	AME 14	ARG 9	SPA 9	FRA 12	ITA 13	CAT Ret	NED Ret	GER Ret	IND 6	CZE 3	GBR 18	RSM 12	ARA 12	JPN Ret	AUS 6	MAL 7	VAL Ret	9th	85
2015	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 7	AME 14	ARG 7	SPA Ret	FRA 14	ITA 8	CAT Ret	NED 17	GER 11	IND Ret	CZE 8	GBR 8	RSM 8	ARA 13	JPN 3	AUS Ret	MAL 7	VAL 13	11th	90
2016	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 15	ARG Ret	AME 12	SPA Ret	FRA DNS	ITA 11	CAT Ret	NED 12	GER 15	AUT 11	CZE 23	GBR 12	RSM 9	ARA 13	JPN 5	AUS 3	MAL 17	VAL Ret	15th	61

References

1 2 Sandro Cortese | The Official MotoGP Website
↑ "Cortese crowned Moto3 World Champion with win in Sepang". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
↑ "Nach 206 GP-Starts in Serie: Cortese verpasst Le Mans" [After 206 GP starts Streak: Cortese missed Le Mans]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
↑ "Cortese joins Racing Team Germany". motogp.com. Dorna Sports. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
↑ "First victory for Cortese in Brno". Dorna Sports. 14 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2011.

External links

Official website
Sandro Cortese Profile at Yahoo! Sport

Preceded by Nicolás Terol (125 cc in 2011)	Moto3 Motorcycle World Champion 2012	Succeeded by Maverick Viñales

125cc/Moto3 Motorcycle World Champions

1949 – N. Pagani

1950 – B. Ruffo
1951 – C. Ubbiali
1952 – C. Sandford
1953 – W. Haas
1954 – R. Hollaus
1955 – C. Ubbiali
1956 – C. Ubbiali
1957 – T. Provini
1958 – C. Ubbiali
1959 – C. Ubbiali

1960 – C. Ubbiali
1961 – T. Phillis
1962 – L. Taveri
1963 – H. Anderson
1964 – L. Taveri
1965 – H. Anderson
1966 – L. Taveri
1967 – B. Ivy
1968 – P. Read
1969 – D. Simmonds

1970 – D. Braun
1971 – Á. Nieto
1972 – Á. Nieto
1973 – K. Andersson
1974 – K. Andersson
1975 – P. Pileri
1976 – P. Bianchi
1977 – P. Bianchi
1978 – E. Lazzarini
1979 – Á. Nieto

1980 – P. Bianchi
1981 – Á. Nieto
1982 – Á. Nieto
1983 – Á. Nieto
1984 – Á. Nieto
1985 – F. Gresini
1986 – L. Cadalora
1987 – F. Gresini
1988 – J. Martínez
1989 – À. Crivillé

1990 – L. Capirossi
1991 – L. Capirossi
1992 – A. Gramigni
1993 – D. Raudies
1994 – K. Sakata
1995 – H. Aoki
1996 – H. Aoki
1997 – V. Rossi
1998 – K. Sakata
1999 – E. Alzamora

2000 – R. Locatelli
2001 – M. Poggiali
2002 – A. Vincent
2003 – D. Pedrosa
2004 – A. Dovizioso
2005 – T. Lüthi
2006 – Á. Bautista
2007 – G. Talmácsi
2008 – M. Di Meglio
2009 – J. Simón

2010 – M. Márquez
2011 – N. Terol
2012 – S. Cortese
2013 – M. Viñales
2014 – Á. Márquez
2015 – D. Kent
2016 – B. Binder

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