Alessandro "Sandro" Cortese (born 6 January 1990) is a German former motorcycle racer, who last competed in the 2020 World Superbike Championship for Team Pedercini. Cortese won his first world title in the Moto3 class, in , and his second in the Supersport World Championship, in .

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

Career

Early career 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 IDM Championship in the 125cc class, finishing 10th.

125cc World Championship

Cortese made his 125cc World Championship debut with Kiefer-Bos-Castrol Honda in 2005, finishing the season in 26th place with eight points. His best finish was 14th place in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. In 2006, he switched to the 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 tenth place, improving his championship standing to 17th place with 23 points.

In 2007, Cortese's 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-ten, including seventh 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-eight 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 , 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, Cortese 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 season, Cortese moved to Dirk Heidolf's Racing Team Germany outfit, as a single-bike entry. 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. Cortese eventually ended the season fourth in the championship.

Moto2 World Championship Cortese moved up to the Moto2 class as a Moto3 champion in 2013. He joined Dynavolt Intact GP as the sole rider of the team. In 2014, Cortese recorded his first podium finish in Moto2 at Brno. He remained at the team until the end of 2017 season.

Supersport World Championship After failing to secure a ride for the 2018 Moto2 season, Cortese signed a deal with Kallio Racing to race in the Supersport World Championship, aboard Yamaha YZF-R6. He won two races at Aragon and Donington Park, securing eight podium finishes and becoming the champion of 2018 Supersport World Championship in his maiden season.

Superbike World Championship Cortese promoted to Superbike class for 2019 season, signing for GRT Yamaha World SBK team, where he finished 12th in the standings. The following year, he moved to Team Pedercini, where he switched bikes from Yamaha to Kawasaki. He crashed in the first race of Portimao round, suffering multiple injuries which he would recover from after eight months. He did not participate for the rest of the season, and his place was taken over by Roman Ramos, Valentin Debise, and Loris Cresson respectively.

Retirement Nearly three years after his crash at Portimão, Cortese announced his retirement from motorcycle racing on his own Instagram account. He credited local emergency medical efforts for saving him from paraplegia but noted that his body has never fully recovered from the accident. Cortese is due to start a job at one of his former sponsors, Gutmann Gruppe. He currently lives in Berkheim and continues to work for Gutmann Gruppe.

Career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTypeTeamRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcd 125cc Honda Honda RS125R Kiefer-Bos-Castrol Honda 16 0 0 0 0 8 26th 125cc Honda Honda RS125R Elit – Caffè Latte 16 0 0 0 0 23 17th 125cc Aprilia Aprilia RS125 Elit – Caffè Latte 17 0 0 0 0 66 14th 125cc Aprilia Aprilia RSA 125 Elit – Caffè Latte 17 0 0 0 1 141 8th 125cc Derbi Derbi RSA 125 Ajo Interwetten 16 0 3 1 2 130 6th 125cc Derbi Derbi RS 125 R Avant Mitsubishi Ajo 17 0 2 1 2 143 7th 125cc Aprilia Aprilia RSA 125 Intact-Racing Team Germany 17 2 6 1 2 225 4th Moto3 KTM KTM RC250GP Red Bull KTM Ajo 17 5 15 7 4 325 1st Moto2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 Dynavolt Intact GP 17 0 0 0 0 22 19th Moto2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 Dynavolt Intact GP 18 0 1 0 0 85 9th Moto2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 Dynavolt Intact GP 18 0 1 0 0 90 11th Moto2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 Dynavolt Intact GP 17 0 1 0 0 61 15th Moto2 Suter Suter MMX2 Dynavolt Intact GP 18 0 0 0 0 43 18th Total 221 7 29 10 11 1362

By class ClassSeasons1st GP1st Pod1st WinRaceWinPodiumsPoleFLapPtsWChmp 125cc 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 2013–2017 2013 Qatar 2014 Czech Republic 88 0 3 0 0 301 0 Total 2005–2017 221 7 29 10 11 1362 1

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 125cc Honda SPA POR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE JPN MAL QAT AUS TUR VAL 26th 8 125cc Honda SPA QAT TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE MAL AUS JPN POR VAL 17th 23 125cc Aprilia QAT SPA TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER CZE RSM POR JPN AUS MAL VAL 14th 66 125cc Aprilia QAT SPA POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER CZE RSM INP JPN AUS MAL VAL 8th 141 125cc Derbi QAT JPN SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER GBR CZE INP RSM POR AUS MAL VAL 6th 130 125cc Derbi QAT SPA FRA ITA GBR NED CAT GER CZE INP RSM ARA JPN MAL AUS POR VAL 7th 143 125cc Aprilia QAT SPA POR FRA CAT GBR NED ITA GER CZE INP RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 4th 225 Moto3 KTM QAT SPA POR FRA CAT GBR NED GER ITA INP CZE RSM ARA JPN MAL AUS VAL 1st 325 Moto2 Kalex QAT AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA MAL AUS JPN VAL 19th 22 Moto2 Kalex QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 9th 85 Moto2Kalex QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 11th 90 Moto2 Kalex QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER AUT CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 15th 61 Moto2 Suter QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER CZE AUT GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 18th 43

Supersport World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts 2018 Yamaha AUS THA SPA NED ITA GBR CZE ITA POR FRA ARG QAT 1st 208

Superbike World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 2019 Yamaha AUS AUS AUS THA THA THA SPA SPA SPA NED NED NED ITA ITA ITA SPA SPA SPA ITA ITA ITA GBR GBR GBR USA USA USA POR POR POR FRA FRA FRA ARG ARG ARG QAT QAT QAT 12th 134 2020 Kawasaki AUS AUS AUS SPA SPA SPA POR POR POR SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA FRA FRA FRA POR POR POR 19th 14

References

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