RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP closes first half of season with German Grand Prix at Sachsenring
With the ninth Grand Prix of the season at the Sachsenring in Germany, the first half of the 2024 season has come to an end. Barry Baltus finished 20th in the Moto2 race on Sunday afternoon while Zonta van den Goorbergh failed to finish due to his physical problems.
After his heavy crash at the TT Circuit Assen just seven days ago, it was going to be a tough weekend anyway for Zonta van den Goorbergh at the Sachsenring. That proved to be the case and from 28th on the grid, much more than a finish would not be possible. However, the Dutchman did not manage to get that far in the 25-lap race, coming in at the end of the 15th lap. Van den Goorbergh finishes the first half of the season 21st in the championship standings with 13 points.
For Barry Baltus too, after qualifying it would be a difficult task to get a good result in the race but there was no lack of effort. The Belgian rider started well and managed to move up further during the race. In the end, Baltus crossed the finish line in twentieth place but was only three seconds away from the points. With 23 points, Baltus is sixteenth in the championship.
Barry Baltus – P20: “The result didn’t reflect our race today. From the position where I started we couldn’t expect a lot more but I wanted to do some more for the team and all the work they have done. We ended in 20th position but didn’t finish too far from the top positions. Now we have the three weeks of summer break where I will work hard to come back stronger in Silverstone. I want to thank the team for all their efforts and look forward to see them again in August.”
Zonta van den Goorbergh – DNF: “I gave everything this weekend but unfortunately I had to abandon the race early because of the pain. In the past few days I did everything I could to be here but it was just not happening today. Now I will use the summer break optimally to get physically and mentally fit again so I can go for it again 100% in the second half of the season.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “The first half of this season is behind us. Looking back at today’s race, we obviously cannot be satisfied. We knew it would be a very tough race for Zonta physically, unfortunately he could not finish it. He didn’t have the pace and also almost no strength so he wasn’t able to finish. That was very unfortunate but now he has three weeks to regain full fitness for Silverstone.
On the other side of the pit box, I hope it is the end of a very difficult period. We started the season on a great note in Qatar with a podium finish and then points in Portimão, then we went into a downward spiral. We hope he can find himself again in the next three weeks and give the events of the past weeks a place.
I think everyone can make good use of this rest for some self-reflection and we will look as a team at where we need to improve and where we need to change. Let’s make good use of it and then be fresh and strong again at Silverstone.”
It is now time for a three-week summer break, the next Grand Prix will be held on the weekend of 2-4 August at Silverstone in the UK.