Sandro Cortese 2012 Moto3 World Champion Tribute Gallery

To the disappointment of the local crowd, German KTM rider Sandro Cortese won the Malaysian GP at Sepang on Sunday to clinch the very first Moto3 World Championship in history, and here is our tribute to the newly crowned champion in the form of a dedicated photo gallery, featuring no less than 132 cool images.

The second spot on the podium would have been more than enough to grab the title, but Cortese wanted to celebrate with a proper triumph and showed no mercy to local hero Zulfahmi Khairuddin, who made history on Saturday claiming his maiden Moto3 pole position on his 21st birthday, the first pole ever for a Malaysian rider at GP level.

The whole crowd was roaring at every corner for Khairuddin in his fight with the championship leader and fellow German Jonas Folger, but an unfazed Cortese didn’t see much of an happy ending in letting the rival win and the race and see the Malaysian fans going nuts.

In the end, the 22 years old German won by just 28/100 of a second, with Folger just 2 tenths behind the pair.