Cortese wins as Australian Sissis stars in Moto3

Recently crowned 2012 Moto3 World Champion Sandro Cortese has taken his fifth win of the season at Phillip Island in a Grand Prix that saw Australian hope Arthur Sissis star with a maiden podium finish.

Pole-sitter Cortese dropped as low as fifth in the opening corners before working his way back to the lead by one-third distance.

Cortese and eventual second-place finisher Miguel Oliveira then managed to break away from the chasing pack, with both riders spending time at the front before the German put the hammer down with three laps to go, eventually taking the win by 2.11s.

The result marked Oliveira’s best-ever Grand Prix finish, and came after the Portuguese rider fell from his Suter twice during the morning warm-up session.

The battle for third proved intense right to the chequered flag, with Sissis edging fourth-placed Alex Rins by just 0.05.

Danny Kent, Romano Fenati, Alessandro Tonucci and Efren Vazquez filled fifth through eighth, with Vazquez less than one second behind Sissis at the finish.

Category wild man Maverick Vinales had been in the thick of the third-placed battle before crashing out at Siberia with eight laps to go.

Early leader Zulfahmi Khairudden was also a late retirement after suffering mechanical problems while holding down ninth.

Jonas Folger, Luis Salom and Louis Rossi joined Khairudden in the top five during the early laps but each had their chances dashed by jump-start penalties.

Australian Jack Miller was another to fall foul of start-line eagerness, with the Australian eventually finishing 21st after serving his ride-through.

Results, Moto3, Phillip Island

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	11	Sandro CORTESE	GER	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	160.1	38’20.014
2	20	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Suter Honda	160.0	+2.108
3	16	61	Arthur SISSIS	AUS	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	159.8	+5.031
4	13	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Suter Honda	159.8	+5.084
5	11	52	Danny KENT	GBR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	159.8	+5.107
6	10	5	Romano FENATI	ITA	Team Italia FMI	FTR Honda	159.8	+5.109
7	9	19	Alessandro TONUCCI	ITA	Team Italia FMI	FTR Honda	159.8	+5.374
8	8	7	Efren VAZQUEZ	SPA	JHK t-shirt Laglisse	FTR Honda	159.7	+5.894
9	7	12	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	Ambrogio Next Racing	Suter Honda	158.0	+30.783
10	6	32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	Ongetta-Centro Seta	FTR Honda	158.0	+30.911
11	5	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3	Kalex KTM	157.9	+32.803
12	4	26	Adrian MARTIN	SPA	JHK t-shirt Laglisse	FTR Honda	157.8	+33.302
13	3	84	Jakub KORNFEIL	CZE	Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta	FTR Honda	157.8	+33.479
14	2	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	RW Racing GP	Kalex KTM	157.8	+34.102
15	1	39	Luis SALOM	SPA	RW Racing GP	Kalex KTM	157.1	+43.749
16		89	Alan TECHER	FRA	Technomag-CIP-TSR	TSR Honda	157.1	+43.827
17		23	Alberto MONCAYO	SPA	Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse	FTR Honda	156.8	+49.394
18		80	Armando PONTONE	ITA	Ioda Team Italia	Ioda	155.6	+1’06.551
19		17	John McPHEE	GBR	Caretta Technology	KRP Honda	155.6	+1’06.588
20		96	Louis ROSSI	FRA	Racing Team Germany	FTR Honda	155.5	+1’08.801
21		8	Jack MILLER	AUS	Caretta Technology	Honda	155.5	+1’08.908
22		51	Kenta FUJII	JPN	Technomag-CIP-TSR	TSR Honda	155.4	+1’10.030
23		30	Giulian PEDONE	SWI	Ambrogio Next Racing	Suter Honda	155.4	+1’10.411
24		75	Lincoln GILDING	AUS	K1 Racing	Honda	153.9	+1’33.510
25		36	Sam CLARKE	AUS	Fastline GP Racing	Honda	147.7	1 Lap
Not Classified
		63	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	MAL	AirAsia-Sic-Ajo	KTM	158.8	4 Laps
		9	Toni FINSTERBUSCH	GER	Racing Team Germany	Honda	154.3	7 Laps
		25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Blusens Avintia	FTR Honda	159.9	9 Laps
		31	Niklas AJO	FIN	TT Motion Events Racing	KTM	156.0	12 Laps
		29	Luca AMATO	GER	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3	Kalex KTM	156.8	15 Laps
		20	Riccardo MORETTI	ITA	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	142.2	22 Laps