Baltus qualifies in 12th place in Texas, Van den Goorbergh stranded on P24
The RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team did not achieve the desired results in qualifying for the Moto2 class at the Circuit of The Americas on Saturday. Barry Baltus looked to be heading for a place on the first three rows but finished 12th, Zonta van den Goorbergh stranded in Q1 and will have to start Sunday’s American Grand Prix from 24th.
The first two days at the Circuit of The Americas ended with mixed feelings for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP. Barry Baltus closed the first day at the challenging circuit with P6 on the timesheets and managed to qualify directly for Q2 on Saturday morning. In that session, the Belgian was very fast but eventually finished 12th. Either way, with his strong race pace, anything is still possible on Sunday.
Zonta van den Goorbergh finished 23rd on the timesheets on Friday and fell just outside the cutoff time on Saturday morning, forcing him into Q1. The 18-year-old Dutchman showed that the speed was there but at the moment of truth, the required lap time didn’t come. As a result, Van den Goorbergh will have to start from 24th on Sunday. He too has a good race pace but starting from the eighth row of the grid will be a tough challenge.
Barry Baltus – P12: “Today was not a bad day but not exactly how I wanted it to be. I was aiming for the first two rows but I didn’t manage to qualify there. Our pace is good and therefore I am confident for tomorrow’s race. The team did a great job and I feel good but it’s a shame we didn’t manage to gain a few positions. It is what it is and tomorrow we’ll give everything for a good result.”
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P24: “Today was one of those days when things did not go as they should have. First of all, I want to apologise to the team for the mistakes I made today. We should have been much further forward and we certainly could have been, but a couple of mistakes by myself put us pretty far back. First of all the crash in Practice 2 when I was doing a lap good enough for direct placement in Q2, it was a bit unexpected but it happened anyway.
In qualifying, I had some traffic ahead of me and it came down to the last lap. The first two sectors were good but in the third sector I made a big mistake which caused my foot to come off the footpeg and I couldn’t make the corner. That cost us a good qualifying position, I shouldn’t be that far back because that’s not what we are here for. We had a good strategy and a good bike but I didn’t manage to finish it off. But it is done now and we are looking forward to tomorrow where I will give everything to be able to bring home a good result.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “On Barry’s side of the box we had another really good day, perhaps the final result was just not what we had hoped for. A place on the first three rows of the grid should have been ours and Barry’s pace was incredibly good so there could have been something more. We will have to make sure in the race tomorrow that we get through the first lap well and then I expect us to be very competitive.
Zonta unfortunately couldn’t get it done today even though we had hopes of a good performance. The speed was definitely there but sometimes several factors have to fall into place. On the other hand, sometimes you have to force certain things and that didn’t happen enough this weekend, then you depend on luck which he didn’t have this weekend. It came down to the last lap in Q1 and then you have to finish a lap like that well. That unfortunately didn’t happen so it will be a very tough race for him tomorrow.”
The 16-lap Moto2 race at the Circuit of The Americas kicks off Sunday at 12:15pm local time, 19:15 Central European Summer time.