Baltus and Van den Goorbergh ready for battle of Buriram in tropical Thai heat

This weekend, the eighteenth Grand Prix of 2024 will be held at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. After a weekend of cold and changeable weather conditions in Australia, RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP now faces intense heat at the fast circuit in Buriram.

Full of good spirits, the RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team arrives in Thailand after a positive weekend in Australia. With Barry Baltus the second-best result of the season was achieved while things were slightly more difficult on Zonta van den Goorbergh’s side. Despite this, it was a learning weekend for the whole team which means the next Grand Prix weekend is already eagerly awaited.

The 4.55-kilometre Chang International Circuit is in stark contrast to Phillip Island, in that it is characterised by a number of long straights with heavy braking points The requirements of both rider and machine are therefore very different compared to the flowing Australian circuit

Barry Baltus: “I’m ready to get back on the bike on Friday in Thailand. To be honest, it’s quite a difficult track for me and in the past years I struggled there a bit. We’re coming from a strong weekend in Australia so we’ll need to continue in that way. The expectations are high so let’s see what we can do this weekend.”

Zonta van den Goorbergh: “We are already entering the second race weekend of this second ‘triple header’ where we return to the warm climate. Especially compared to Australia where it was quite cold. It will be another very different weekend and I hope we have the speed right from the first session, so we can fight for the positions where we belong from the start. I’m looking forward to getting back to work.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “We are already in Thailand for the next Grand Prix and it certainly takes some getting used to the difference from Australia again. It is extremely hot here and will remain so for the next few days. Also, in the tropical climate it can go either way with heavy rain, so we will see how that goes this weekend. In Australia, Barry’s result was great for him and the team, unfortunately on Zonta’s side we were a bit less fortunate. We left Australia with a good feeling and will now prepare for yet another race in very different conditions. It will be important to be there right from Friday so we can fight hard on Sunday for another good result.”

The race weekend at the Chang International Circuit starts with free practice on Friday morning after which the first official practice session will be held in the afternoon. Then the second official practice will take place on Saturday morning after which it will be clear which riders will have to participate in Q1 or Q2. Qualifying starts Saturday afternoon at 13:45 local time (08:45 Central European Time) and the 22-lap race will start Sunday afternoon at 13:15 local time (07:15 CET). Please note that the clock will be set back one hour from Saturday to Sunday because of daylight savings.