Second and third row for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP after qualifying in Qatar
RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP riders Barry Baltus and Zonta van den Goorbergh secured a starting place on the second and third row of the grid respectively for the Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday. The Belgian rider qualified in sixth place at the Lusail International Circuit while the Dutchman eventually claimed ninth position.
The first Grand Prix weekend of 2024 started well for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP on Friday afternoon at a sunny Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. While Zonta van den Goorbergh immediately set the second lap time on the board, Barry Baltus also showed strong pace in the first session of the day. Remarkably, it started raining heavily in the evening so – given the sunny weather forecast for the rest of the weekend – it was decided not to ride.
On Saturday afternoon, Van den Goorbergh was again very fast on a sunny track and confidently secured a direct place in Q2. Baltus just fell short and had to go to Q1. However, the Belgian was fast enough to still advance to the second qualifying session to compete for pole position.
With a sixth place Baltus managed to match his best qualifying result in the Moto2 class while Van den Goorbergh finished in tenth position after a crash. Later, a penalty for another rider would cause the Dutchman to move up to ninth position which assured RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP of starting places on the second and third rows.
Barry Baltus – P6: “It was quite a good day for us today. We were a bit unlucky that we finished in 15th place after practice which meant we had to go to Q1. However, because we didn’t ride on Friday night because of the rain, it was quite good to have this extra session to do some more laps. We managed to get through to Q2 and then we did a good job by qualifying in sixth place. Tomorrow is a different story and with the new tyres it will be a different experience for everyone, so let’s see what we can do.”
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P9: “I’m pretty disappointed after this qualifying because more could have been possible. That is a pity but the result is certainly not disastrous. Unfortunately I crashed, I had to swerve to avoid another rider and as a result I deviated slightly from my line. I lost the front and crashed, then it took me a long time to get the bike back to the box. I was eventually able to get back onto the track and went even faster than before the crash. There was some confusion regarding the remaining time of the session which caused me to miss out on my final lap but it is what it is. Tomorrow is another day and then it’s about the points. We know we can be fast so I am looking forward to the race.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “We can definitely say we had a very good start this weekend. From Friday afternoon onwards we have been strong and fortunately we were able to prove that today in qualifying. Zonta’s small crash in Q2 was obviously not ideal but fortunately he was able to recover well afterwards. In the end, ninth position gives a bit of a double feeling because I think he certainly could have been on the first two rows. Barry recovered himself very well after a difficult Friday, he did a great job in qualifying in sixth place. The second and third row of the grid is a very good starting position for the race, even though it’s going to be a very tough challenge.”
The eighteen-lap Moto2 race at the Lusail International Circuit gets underway on Sunday at 18:15 local time, 16:15 Central European time.