Sandro Cortese
Cortese at the2012 Australian Grand Prix
Nationality	German
Born	(1990-01-06)6 January 1990 (age 36)[1] Ochsenhausen,West Germany
Current team	Outdo Kawasaki TPR
Bike number	11
Motorcycle racing career statistics Moto2 World Championship Active years 2013–2017 Manufacturers Kalex Championships 0 2017 championship position 18th (43 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 88 0 3 0 0 301 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2012 Manufacturers KTM Championships 1 (2012) 2012 championship position 1st (325 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 17 5 15 7 4 325 125cc World Championship Active years 2005–2011 Manufacturers Honda,Derbi,Aprilia Championships 0 2011 championship position 4th (225 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 116 2 11 3 7 736 Superbike World Championship Active years 2019–2020 Manufacturers Yamaha,Kawasaki Championships 0 2020 championship position 19th (14 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 43 0 0 0 0 148 Supersport World Championship Active years 2018 Manufacturers Yamaha Championships 1 (2018) 2018 championship position 1st (208 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 12 2 8 3 7 208

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, in2012,^[2] and his second in the Supersport World Championship, in2018.^[3]

Cortese contested every race from his Grand Prix début in2005 until the2016 French Grand Prix, where he missed the race due to a knee injury.^[4]

Cortese was born inOchsenhausen,West Germany, as the son of anItalian father and aGerman mother. He started his career at the age of nine onpocket 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.^[1]

Cortese made his125cc 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 inGermany,the Czech Republic, andTurkey. In 2006, he switched to the2005 125cc Championship-winning team, Elit – Caffè LatteHonda as team mate to 125cc World ChampionThomas Lüthi. He made steady progress, scoring some championship points, His best result was in thePortuguese Grand Prix in 10th place, improving his championship standing to 17th place with 23 points.

In 2007, Cortese's team was renamed Emmi – Caffè Latte, and it switched toAprilia motorbikes. Lüthi moved up to 250cc, also withAprilia. Cortese improved in 2007, finishing most of the season's races in the top 10, including 7th places in theFrench, theItalian andGerman Grands Prix. He finished the championship in 14th place with 66 points. For 2008, he rode a worksAprilia 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 afterMugello, and he finished consistently in the top eight. In theAustralian Grand Prix he crashed while leading but managed to recover to sixth and helpedMike Di Meglio to win the championship by finishing ahead ofSimone Corsi, Di Meglio's championship rival. In theMalaysian 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 inChina.

In2009, Cortese rode for theFinnishAjo Motorsport team that took Di Meglio to his 125cc World Championship. He replaced Di Meglio and teamed up withDominique Aegerter, running factoryDerbi 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 withMarc Márquez andAdrián Martín, with each rider running different sponsorship. Cortese took two podiums during the season, at theSachsenring andIndianapolis. He also achieved pole position inItaly, and finished seventh in the championship.

For the2011 season, Cortese moved to Dirk Heidolf's Racing Team Germany outfit, as a single-bike entry.^[5] He took second-place finishes inQatar andPortugal, before taking his first Grand Prix victory – in his 109th start – in theCzech Republic, having battled withJohann Zarco in the closing stages of the race.^[6] Cortese eventually ended the season fourth in the 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.^[7] In2014, Cortese recorded his first podium finish in Moto2 atBrno. He remained at the team until the end of2017 season.

After failing to secure a ride for the2018 Moto2 season, Cortese signed a deal with Kallio Racing to race in the Supersport World Championship, aboardYamaha YZF-R6.^[8] He won 2 races at Aragon andDonington Park, securing 8 podium finishes and becoming the champion of2018 Supersport World Championship in his maiden season.^[9]

Cortese promoted to Superbike class for2019 season, signing for GRT Yamaha World SBK team, where he finished 12th in the standings. The following year, he moved to Team Pedercini, switched bike from Yamaha to Kawasaki. He crashed in the first race ofPortimao round, suffering multiple injuries which he would recover from after 8 months.^[10] He did not participate for the rest of the season, and his place was taken over byRoman Ramos,Valentin Debise, andLoris Cresson respectively.^[11]

Nearly three years after his crash at Portimão, Cortese announced his retirement from motorcycle racing on his ownInstagram account.^[12] He credited local emergency medical efforts for saving him fromparaplegia 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.^[13] He currently lives inBerkheim and continues to work for Gutmann Gruppe.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position, races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSandro Cortese.

• Official website
• Sandro Cortese at MotoGP.com
• Sandro Cortese at WorldSBK.com
• Sandro Cortese atAS.com (in Spanish)

• 1990 births
• Living people
• People from Ochsenhausen
• Sportspeople from Tübingen (region)
• German motorcycle racers
• 125cc World Championship riders
• German people of Italian descent
• Sportspeople of Italian descent
• Moto3 World Championship riders
• Moto2 World Championship riders
• Supersport World Championship riders
• Superbike World Championship riders
• Moto3 World Riders' Champions

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2025
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata