Strong seventh for Baltus in front of record attendance in Le Mans, Van den Goorbergh finishes 20th
Barry Baltus finished seventh in the Moto2 race of the French Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The race was stopped early with a red flag due to an incident, after that it was restarted over 14 laps. In this race Baltus rode to seventh place, achieving the best result in the Moto2 class so far for both himself and Fieten Olie Racing GP. Zonta van den Goorbergh rode a good pace got involved in multiple incidents which caused him to lose some positions, eventually crossing the finish line in twentieth place.
In the restart over 14 laps, Baltus held his ninth starting position before moving up to eighth position on lap five. He then gained another place on the ninth lap which put him in seventh position. He did not give this away again until the finish, resulting in his best result in the Moto2 class to date. With these points, Baltus is now sixteenth in the Moto2 championship.
Van den Goorbergh lost two places at the start which made him back to 21st position. On the third lap, contact with another rider caused him to lose another two places after which the Dutchman had to come back from a long way. With a constant pace, seventeen-year-old Van den Goorbergh made up three positions and crossed the finish line in 20th.
Barry Baltus – P7: “It was a good race for me. It was a bit difficult to keep the concentration after the red flag, I found it hard to find my focus again for the restart. I stayed on the bike, however, and managed to finish in the position that matched our potential. It is nice to get this result under our belt, now we need to continue in this way until the summer break. We are on a good path and the team did a great job today. It feels good and hopefully we can keep this going.”
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P20: “I think I rode one of my best races ever but due to a lot of bad luck you don’t see that reflected in the result. First, Lowes passed me like a ‘kamikaze’ which made me lose a lot of time and positions, then there was a crash just in front of me (one of the positions I lost in the first incident) which made me lose another position and a lot of time. After that I managed to ride a strong pace which allowed me to close the gap to the riders in front of me and then gain some positions, I am definitely satisfied with that. In the end, this result is definitely not what I expected and that’s a bummer.”
Jarno Janssen – Fieten Olie Racing GP team manager: “”We had a fantastic result with the team, I’m really happy with our performance today. This seventh place with Barry is our best result in the Moto2 class so far, it was coming for a while too. It was a race with a number of incidents but sometimes you also have to be lucky not to be involved in them. Barry ended up riding a really good race, he fully deserved this seventh place. This obviously gives him peace of mind and confidence as well.
Zonta also rode a really good race, unfortunately he couldn’t stay completely out of trouble in the incidents. He was pushed off the track by Lowes, losing a few places but still managed to get back to the front. He fought his way back well and rode consistent lap times continuously. As a result, the 20th position does not quite reflect what was possible for him, but that is part of racing.
We will test at Assen next Tuesday to prepare for the Dutch TT so the boys won’t have much rest. We will ride one day at the TT Circuit Assen after which we have a few weeks of rest until the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello.”
This Tuesday, on the 16th of May, Fieten Olie Racing GP will test one day at the TT Circuit Assen after which there will be a few weeks of rest for the Grand Prix paddock. The next Grand Prix is scheduled for the weekend of 9-11 May at the Autodromo del Mugello in Italy.