First stop of the year in Italy for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP at magnificent Mugello

This weekend, the seventh Grand Prix of 2024 will be held at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello in Italy. After a good result in Barcelona, the goal for Zonta van den Goorbergh is to maintain this form at the Italian hilly circuit. Barry Baltus had a very challenging weekend in Catalunya and will work hard in Mugello to get the right feeling back with his Moto2 machine.

The 5.25-kilometre Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello first held a Grand Prix in 1976 and the Italian circuit has been a fixture on the calendar since 1991. The Tuscan circuit’s beautiful surroundings and layout make it one of the favourite GPs of both riders and teams.

The weather forecast is still changeable at the moment and it would not be the first time that heavy rain showers between the hills play a significant role either. Despite that, Zonta van den Goorbergh, Barry Baltus and the whole team are keen to get the most out of the seventh Grand Prix weekend of the year.

Barry Baltus: “It’s a new race weekend and we have to perform better than we did last time out. Mugello is a track that I like but we have seen that it means nothing if you like or don’t like a circuit. I am very motivated to work hard this weekend and I think we can do well.”

Zonta van den Goorbergh: “Having battled for a place in the top ten the past three race weekends, the aim is to continue that way this weekend at Mugello. Last weekend was certainly not bad, even after the penalty it was still our best result of the season. That’s a good basis to build on and that’s what we will do this weekend. We’ll just have to wait and see what the weather conditions will be and then we’ll do our best to be there from the first session.’

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “We had a good weekend in Barcelona with a very strong race by Zonta. He was in good shape all weekend but in the race he exceeded our expectations by coming from fifteenth on the grid to ninth position. Like many other drivers, he had to deal with track limits in the closing stages which ultimately cost him that ninth position. Regardless, it was just a strong race and he had that top ten finish to hand.

On the other side of the box we had a much harder time, Barry is not feeling well on the bike at the moment. If everything is not 100% right then you don’t compete and that was the case for us in Barcelona. We have to work hard on that and Barry in particular will have to recover in the next races before the summer break.

This weekend we go to Mugello, the second race weekend in a row. It is a beautiful track in the middle of Tuscany with flowing corners, a classic and super-fast circuit. In the past it has proved a good circuit for us so let’s hope the conditions are good so we can continue where Zonta finished in Barcelona.”

The weekend starts with free practice on Friday morning followed by the first official practice session in the afternoon. Then the second official practice session will take place on Saturday morning after which it will be clear which drivers will have to take part in Q1 or Q2. Qualifying starts in the afternoon at 13:45 with the race over 19 laps to be held at 12:15 on Sunday afternoon.