#AUSWorldSBK: In the points with new team at first opportunity

Sandro Cortese made a convincing impression in Saturday's Superpole securing ninth place on the grid before the Kawasaki rider finished the first race of the season in 13th place.

After only three days of on-track preparations, P9 after Superpole session was a respectable result for Sandro Cortese and his Pedercini Racing Team. Starting from the third row, the 30-year-old from Berkheim was able to defend well his position in the beginning, before the rear tyre dropped off considerably after two thirds of the race. Regarding his still damaged shoulder (operation in November) the distance over 22 laps caused hardly any problems. Cortese is therefore looking forward with confidence to the two Sunday races at Phillip Island. In addition, the experience gained so far should help him getting closer to his goal of finishing his debut race weekend aboard the Kawasaki in the top ten.

#11 Sandro CORTESE (OUTDO Kawasaki Racing, Kawasaki ZX-10RR), Grid position 9 / Race1: 13th:

"We clearly have to see our first race as another practice session. We still lack a lot of experience with the new package overall. But I think that we have collected a lot of important and helpful data today, which we can analyse now. Based on these findings we now know in which direction we have to go regarding the settings. So tomorrow we should be a bit better positioned. Our goal was to finish in the top ten. Unfortunately, we did not manage to do that. But on Sunday there are two more ways to achieve this. So, I'm already looking forward to the further races here on Phillip Island. It will be another important day for us to move forward. We definitely will attack in full force, because we want to be able to report a successful start to this project at the end."

#AUSWorldSBK - Superpole Result:

1 Tom SYKES / GBR / BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR / 1´29.230

2 Scott REDDING / GBR / ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / 1´29.569 +0.339

3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSKB / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´29.598 +0.368

9 #11 Sandro CORTESE / GER / OUTDO Kawasaki Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´30.072 +0.842

#AUSWorldSBK - Race1 Result after 22 Laps:

1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 33´48.344

2 Alex LOWES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +0.007

3 Scott REDDING / GBR / ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / +0.034

13 #11 Sandro CORTESE / GER / OUTDO Kawasaki Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +20.778

#WorldSBK - Championship Classification:

1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 25

2 Alex LOWES / GBR / Kawasaki / 20

3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Ducati / 16

13 #11 Sandro CORTESE / GER / Kawasaki / 3

#AUSWorldSBK - Time Schedule for Sunday March 1st (CET):

Saturday, 29.02.: 23:30 - 23:45 Warm-Up

Sunday 1.03.: 02:00 - Superpole-Race (10 Laps - 44,450 km)

Sunday, 1.03.: 05:00 - Race2 (22 Laps - 97,790 km)