Van den Goorbergh and Baltus to start Malaysian Grand Prix from P14 and P16
RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP had a good qualifying day at the Sepang International Circuit for the Malaysian Grand Prix. After a very strong final practice, Zonta van den Goorbergh qualified fourteenth at the Malaysian circuit whilst teammate Barry Baltus managed to get through Q1 to Q2 and finally poste the sixteenth lap time.
Prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, it became increasingly clear that the Circuit Ricardo Tormo cannot be raced in two weeks’ time due to the floods in Valencia. As a result, the Valencia race weekend – traditionally the season finale – has been cancelled and a replacement is currently being sought. It is currently unclear what this means for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP and the other Moto2 teams.
At the Sepang International Circuit, the team started the – as yet penultimate – Grand Prix weekend well. After Zonta van den Goorbergh and Barry Baltus finished the first day in 13th and 15th respectively, the pace was further increased on Saturday. The Dutchman finished in an impressive second place in the final practice session, qualifying directly for Q2. The Belgian finished twentieth, forcing him into Q1.
Baltus still managed to get through Q1 for Q2 in which he eventually qualified 16th. Van den Goorbergh felt good and hoped to come close to his performance in the morning, however due riders waiting on track he could not squeeze the ultimate lap out of his Moto2 machine. Regardless, the starting position for a strong result is still good with fourteenth place on the grid and that is where the Dutchman and the Dutch team are setting their sights on, on Sunday.
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P14: “I am a bit frustrated after today’s qualifying. We started the day well with a P2 in the second practice but unfortunately I couldn’t repeat that in qualifying in the afternoon. I was happy with the good pace we had in the morning session but unfortunately in the qualifying session I ended up a bit further back. On my fastest lap, I was hindered by another rider who kept waiting in the middle of the track, which is unacceptable in my opinion. That is very annoying but there is nothing to change that now. We’ll try to gain a few more positions tomorrow, if we ride a similar race like in Thailand then I’m convinced we can get a good result.”
Barry Baltus – P16: “It wasn’t the best day ever today but it was still a lot better than yesterday. We made an improvement in qualifying and it was good to go from Q1 to Q2. Unfortunately we weren’t able to improve further in Q2 so we’ll need to see what we can do from the sixth row tomorrow. The most important thing will be to manage the big drop on the tyres and we’ll make sure to fight hard until the last lap.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “We had quite a good day with both riders in Q2. That second place in the morning from Zonta was great and Barry managed to make it through Q1. That result from Zonta in the second practice obviously created some expectation but in qualifying it is always different, especially also the track conditions which were different from the morning. With the fourteenth and sixteenth starting positions, we really do have a good opportunity tomorrow to fight for the points with both riders.”
The 17-lap Moto2 race at the Sepang International Circuit will start Sunday at 13:15 local time, 06:15 Central European time.