Strong performance by Fieten Olie Racing GP in Indian Grand Prix with Van den Goorbergh in P6 and Baltus in P8

The Fieten Olie Racing GP team had a good Moto2 race at the Buddh International Circuit on Sunday. In the first Grand Prix of India in history, Zonta van den Goorbergh scored his first world championship points by finishing sixth, Barry Baltus also rode a rock-solid race crossing the line in eighth place.

After a good qualifying session on Saturday, in which Zonta van den Goorbergh recorded the fourth fastest time and Barry Baltus managed to qualify thirteenth, Fieten Olie Racing GP went into the eighteen-lap Moto2 race at the Buddh International Circuit with confidence. However, the red flag was soon waved due to an incident at the first corner, reducing the race distance to 12 laps.

On the restart Van den Goorbergh did not get away very well and fell back to eighth place while Baltus managed to make up a few positions and moved up to ninth. However, Van den Goorbergh made immediate progress and was already in fifth place on the third lap. The 17-year-old Dutchman was put under pressure for a long time and had to give up a place but eventually crossed the finish line in a neat sixth position. With this, Van den Goorbergh got his best result so far and also scored his first points in the Moto2 world championship.

Baltus would move up to eighth position during the race and eventually finish there. In doing so, the 19-year-old Belgian ensured that he secured another good result after a couple difficult races.

Zonta van den Goorbergh – P6: “It took longer than expected but to do it in this way is great. It may sound crazy but I knew beforehand that I could have a good race, I felt the podium was not very far away. That turned out to be the case in the end, if I had got away a bit better in the beginning it could have been possible. But in the end I am very happy with how and where we finished. I rode with my head and had a few tenths left but I didn’t want to push over the limit. It was important to get this one over the line, I didn’t want to throw away this chance of a good result.

I want to thank the team immensely because it hasn’t been easy in the last year and a half. Lately we have had good race weekends but each time something prevented us from having a good result. Now everything is falling into place and then results like these are possible. We didn’t start the weekend very well on Friday but we managed to turn it around. I want to thank everyone in the team, the sponsors and those who supported me. We still have a lot of races to go so hopefully we can get more great results.”

Barry Baltus – P8: “Today we had a very good race, to be honest I was not expecting this. We started the weekend with P26 on Friday so to end up in the top ten is great. My pace was good and I was able to make some overtakes. I am happy for the team to have these good results today and I’m already looking forward to continue in this way in Japan.”

Jarno Janssen – Fieten Olie Racing GP team manager: “I am really extremely proud of both guys. After the first day we knew it was going to be a difficult weekend, not only because of the extreme weather conditions but also because of the difficulties both riders had with this track. That was of course rectified tremendously on Saturday with great results in qualifying but we have failed more than once this year to turn a great qualifying result into good finishes. We managed to do that today and it was great to see both Zonta and Barry riding like that. Zonta didn’t let the pressure get to him and got an important result for himself and the team, it was a very mature race. Barry had a slightly harder time but did very well in the end. I am proud of the riders but also everyone in the team. This is a nice boost and now it’s important that we continue in this way in the coming races.”

The next Grand Prix will take place next weekend from 29 September to 1 October at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Japan.