Van den Goorbergh achieves best result of his career with fifth place in Japan, Baltus’ gamble doesn’t pay off

Zonta van den Goorbergh finished fifth in Sunday’s Moto2 race at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Japan. After a heavy rain shower, the race was restarted over twelve laps with the Dutchman opting for slicks. This worked out very well, bringing Van den Goorbergh the best result of his career with fifth place. Barry Baltus crossed the finish line in 18^th place after opting for rain tyres.

With Van den Goorbergh second on the grid and Baltus not far behind in seventh place, expectations were high for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP. However, the race was interrupted after just one lap due to heavy rain in the second and third sectors of the track. It would later be restarted over 12 laps with Van den Goorbergh being one of the few to decide to ride with slicks.

The first few laps were very treacherous on a still partly wet track but as it dried it became clear that slicks were the right choice. Van den Goorbergh quickly moved to the front and briefly joined the battle for the podium. In the end, he crossed the finish line in a very creditable fifth place which is the best result of his Grand Prix career. In the championship, he has now moved up to 22^nd place and is level with his teammate on 31 points.

Baltus made the decision to change to rain tyres and in the early stages he managed to keep up with the leading group. However, the track dried up quickly, making it impossible to maintain a good pace with rain tyres. The Belgian rider eventually crossed the finish line in eighteenth place but can look back on a good race weekend in Japan.

Zonta van den Goorbergh – P5: “I am very happy with this result. We made the right choice for slicks and that was definitely a risk. We had nothing to lose so I am very happy that it turned out this way. I started relatively calmly and didn’t take many risks during the race itself because I thought only Ogura and I were on slicks. So that turned out not to be the case after all which made me start riding a bit more aggressively. With four laps to go I was still at the tail of the group fighting for the podium but I didn’t want to risk it, given the recent results. In the end, fifth place was the maximum result and we can be very happy with that. I want to thank the team for their hard work over the past few weeks, we haven’t had the easiest weekends in a row.”

Barry Baltus – P18: “Today was very disappointing for me. This was one of the days where it would have been possible to be on the podium again. Anyway, it’s done and it was my responsibility for making this tyre choice. There were only six riders who made the right decision, for the rest of us it was of matter of survival. That’s how things go sometimes. We made a step forward this weekend and need to take the positives out of it for the next races. We can’t change the result so let’s look forward to the next one in Australia.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “Looking at this weekend as a whole, we can say we had a very good weekend. Both rides were fast and we handled the changing weather conditions well. Of course, in the race it was a gamble and at such a time you’d really rather not choose. The important thing is to keep the riders calm and let them make their own choice. Zonta was very convinced about slicks and we were fully behind that as a team. We wanted the same on Barry’s side but he chose rain tyres at the last minute. At a moment like that, you have to let that happen if he feels comfortable with it and in the end it was 24 riders who made that choice.

Fifth place is obviously a great result for everyone in the team. Zonta rode a very good race without taking too many risks, which you shouldn’t do in such a situation. He battled for the podium for a while but anyway this is a top result. For Barry it went the other way but in the end it was a very solid weekend for him as well.”

The entire MotoGP paddock now has a well-deserved week’s rest before the next Grand Prix will be held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia on the weekend of 18-20 October.