Having been in the doldrums for the past two rounds, it was a welcome return to the top positions for Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), who took his best result in WorldSBK, whilst making it the best result for a German rider at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto in WorldSBK history.

A strong weekend right from the start saw Cortese eager to fight hard and push his way through, back inside the top positions that he had been missing since his Tissot Superpole crash at Assen. The German rider came through from ninth on the grid to capitalise on crashes from the ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati pairing of Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies, and teammate Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) – who got caught up with Chaz Davies at Turn 5.

Speaking after the race, the German rider was clearly pleased with his best WorldSBK result: “It was a good race this afternoon, which I finished with my best result of the season. The lap times increased a lot compared to Race 1 yesterday, which meant we didn’t quite have the set-up we needed to run with the front guys and challenge for maybe a fourth-place finish today.”

Sandro Cortese’s first top six of the season puts him ninth in the championship, just 11 points adrift of 2018 WorldSBK runner-up, Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and three points clear of 2013 WorldSBK Champion, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).

Resuming with his weekend recap, Cortese stated: “We learned a lot and we know what we need to do for the next race, so I leave Jerez happy with the race result and with the progress we’ve made. Now I’m looking forward to the next race in Misano, where we will aim to fight once again with these guys and, hopefully, secure an even better result.”

Watch the 2019 WorldSBK season and Sandro Cortese’s development unfold with the WorldSBK VideoPass!