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Sandro Cortese wins mixed-weather Moto3 thriller

Sandro Cortese became the first German to win a grand prix race at the Sachsenring in more than 13 years after defeating Alexis Masbou in a mixed-weather thriller

A torrential downpour delayed the start of the race and ensured conditions were extremely wet when it did finally begin, but the rain quickly abated and by the end a clear dry line had emerged across the circuit.

The changing conditions effectively split the race into several stages, with both Cortese (Ajo KTM ) - who had started from pole - and Masbou (Caretta Honda) outside the top six for the first handful of laps.

As the weather eased however both started to fly. Masbou passed Cortese for sixth and both began to charge, closing a six second deficit to the lead pack of five riders within two laps.

One lap later and Masbou had scythed his way through into the lead, with Cortese following suit to move into second. The latter's team-mate Jack Miller, Louis Rossi (Germany FTR-Honda), Adrian Martin (Laglisse Honda), Luis Salom (RW Kalex-KTM) and Brad Binder (RW Kalex-KTM) were their victims.

The pair's surge sparked a now seven-way battle for the lead, the top group often covered by less than 1.5s, but as conditions continued to improve their pace eventually told, with only Salom able to stay with them.

In their attempts to keep the pace, and on wet tyres now struggling on the dry line, Binder and Rossi were both late casualties.

Cortese gained some breathing space by setting a new fastest lap on his penultimate tour, while the race's overall best on his final tour allowed him to eventually claim victory, and with it the championship lead - erstwhile leader Maverick Vinales' miserable weekend complete as he finished just 17th.

Masbour followed him home to record his first ever grand prix podium, while Salom just held off a resurgent Miller for third - five hundredths all that separated them at the flag.

Vazquez (Laglisse Honda), Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Ajo KTM) and Hector Faubel (Aspar Kalex-KTM) completed the top seven. The latter fought his way back after having to start from the pitlane when he stalled on the grid.

Results - 27 laps
Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                     Time/Gap
  1.  Sandro Cortese       Ajo KTM                    45m36.868s
  2.  Alexis Masbou        Caretta Honda                + 0.635s
  3.  Luis Salom           RW Kalex-KTM                 + 3.998s
  4.  Jack Miller          Caretta Honda                + 4.051s
  5.  Efren Vazquez        Laglisse FTR-Honda          + 12.119s
  6.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin  Ajo KTM                     + 25.174s
  7.  Hector Faubel        Aspar Kalex-KTM             + 25.499s
  8.  Luca Gruenwald       Freudenberg Honda           + 26.087s
  9.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                     + 29.675s
 10.  Jakub Kornfeil       Ongetta FTR-Honda           + 29.891s
 11.  Toni Finsterbusch    MZ Honda                    + 33.178s
 12.  Niccolò Antonelli    Gresini FTR-Honda           + 42.858s
 13.  Alan Techer          Technomag-CIP TSR Honda   + 1m02.653s
 14.  Niklas Ajo           TT Motion KTM             + 1m10.253s
 15.  Simone Grotzkyj      Ambrogio Suter-Honda      + 1m10.447s
 16.  Alessandro Tonucci   Italia FMI FTR-Honda      + 1m10.640s
 17.  Maverick Vinales     Avintia FTR-Honda         + 1m11.122s
 18.  Danny Webb           Mahindra                  + 1m11.306s
 19.  Miguel Oliveira      Monlau Suter-Honda        + 1m18.878s
 20.  Alex Rins            Monlau Suter-Honda        + 1m18.957s
 21.  Isaac Vinales        Ongetta FTR-Honda             + 1 lap
 22.  Luigi Morciano       Ioda Italia                   + 1 lap
 23.  Kenta Fujii          Technomag-CIP TSR Honda       + 1 lap
 24.  Romano Fenati        Italia FMI FTR-Honda          + 1 lap
 25.  Ivan Moreno          Laglisse FTR-Honda            + 1 lap
 26.  Kevin Hanus          Sabo Honda                    + 1 lap
 27.  Giulian Pedone       Ambrogio Suter-Honda         + 3 laps

Retirements:

     Louis Rossi          Germany FTR-Honda              25 laps
     Marcel Schrotter     Mahindra                       24 laps
     Alberto Moncayo      Aspar Kalex-KTM                23 laps
     Danny Kent           Ajo KTM                        22 laps
     Brad Binder          RW Kalex-KTM                   21 laps
     Adrian Martin        Laglisse FTR-Honda             20 laps
     Jonas Folger         Ioda                           17 laps
     Jasper Iwema         FGR Honda                      16 laps

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