Strong comeback by Baltus at the Sachsenring with P12, Van den Goorbergh finishes 18th

Barry Baltus finished 12th in the Moto2 race at Sachsenring on Sunday afternoon. The Belgian rider had to swerve from an incident on the first lap which dropped him back to last place but thanks to a fine catch-up race he came back strongly. Zonta van den Goorbergh was close to the points, eventually finishing eighteenth.

Under very sunny and warm conditions, the 25-lap Moto2 race was held Sunday afternoon at the Sachsenring. Entering the first corner there was an incident involving three riders, as Baltus was riding on the outside he had to swerve from this. This caused the Belgian rider to fall back to last place and a big challenge awaited him.

He did not shy away from the challenge and with great strides Baltus came back to the front. Eventually his advance stalled at twelfth place but after a difficult start to the weekend, this was an excellent result for Baltus and the Fieten Olie Racing GP team.

Van den Goorbergh, on the other hand, made a good start and managed to make up several positions. By the sixth lap, he had arrived in eighteenth position after which he was in a group with prospects of the points. In the end, Van den Goorbergh crossed the finish line in eighteenth position and once again managed to show a consistent pace, despite very little driving time on a dry track this weekend.

Barry Baltus – P12: “It’s a big pity that there was an accident in the first corner which meant I was in last place. However, I was able to come back strong and ride a strong pace. I had a very good feeling with the bike, the team did a great job. Unfortunately we will never know what would have been possible if we had a good opening lap in this race. Now we need to keep the same feeling for the team’s home Grand Prix in Assen next week.”

Zonta van den Goorbergh – P18: “The race today started quite well. Not so much the start, as I was in the melee for a bit, but the first 15 laps went well. The pace was strong but in the last ten laps I had to drop a bit. In terms of positions I lost nothing, only the lap time dropped slightly. The extra few tenths we had left in Mugello we didn’t have here. We had very little dry track time this weekend and I found it difficult to find a good feeling. This was partly because Dunlop came with a much harder compound than at other races, which was difficult to get used to. Now it’s time for a few days’ rest before our home race is coming up.”

Jarno Janssen – Fieten Olie Racing GP team manager: “It was a very exciting Moto2 race today. After the start, things immediately went wrong in the first corner and we were indirectly involved in that with Barry. He lost a lot of positions and therefore basically had to start the race from last place. That is incredibly disappointing when you have a pretty good starting position. Zonta was fortunately able to avoid that.

Barry then picked up his pace and every lap he managed to move further forward. In the end, he secured a fantastic 12th place. He fought like a lion and definitely showed his potential. That gives him a big boost to shine in our home race next week.

Zonta also rode a solid race, constantly battling with some top riders. In the end, he finished just outside the points but we see that things are improving every time and we are getting closer and closer to the points. Let’s do everything we can to make another step in Assen and then maybe get those first points.”

After the Italian Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix, next weekend the third Grand Prix in a row is coming up. However, it will be a special weekend as it is Fieten Olie Racing GP’s home race at the TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands.