#FRAWorldSBK: «Too bad, I felt very strong»

For the Superbike rookie, however, a technical defect was very costly preventing him from a possible top ten finish in Sunday’s race.

After the difficulties, Sandro Cortese had to overcome because of the changeable weather on both days of practice during the French round, the 29-year-old German rider was in good spirits to leave Magny-Cours with another sense of achievement. Cortese also got off to a good start in the second race in good conditions, but then technology let him down. About halfway point of the race distance he had to shut down his Yamaha due to a gearbox failure. In the previous Superpole race Cortese finished eleventh.

The Superbike World Championship moves over now to Argentina for the next round in two weeks.

#11 Sandro CORTESE (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha YZF R1), Superpole-Race: P11 / Race2: NC:

"Race No. three of the weekend didn't bring a nice conclusion unfortunately because something broke in the gearbox. At the moment we are still wondering whether it was the electronics or the gearbox itself. Anyway, after a few laps I couldn't change gears properly. In the end I had to give up the race because it became too dangerous. Too bad, because I felt very strong. I think I could have easily finished in the top ten today. That's why I'm very disappointed of course. We will now analyse the matter in detail so that we can travel to Argentina next week with peace of mind."

#FRAWorldSBK - Superpole-Race Result (10 Laps):

1 Toprak RZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 16´17.186

2 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +0.319

3 Michael van der MARK / NED / Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF- R1 / +1.167

11 #11 Sandro CORTESE / GER / GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +13.992

#FRAWorldSBK - Race2 Result (21 Laps):

1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 34´26.280

2 Michael van der MARK / NED / Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 0.862

3 Alex LOWES / GBR / Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / +1.702

NC #11 Sandro CORTESE / GER / GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1

#WorldSBK Standing:

1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki / 544

2 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Ducati / 415

3 Alex LOWES / ITA / Yamaha / 279

10 #11 Sandro CORTESE / GER / Yamaha / 122