Van den Goorbergh qualifies 17th for Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, Baltus 20th
The RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team had a challenging qualifying day at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello on Saturday. Zonta van den Goorbergh managed to get through Q1 to Q2, where he set the 17th fastest lap time. Barry Baltus was less than two tenths short of a place in Q2, qualifying twentieth for Sunday’s Moto2 race.
A sunny and warm Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello is where the Italian Grand Prix is being held weekend. The weekend started well for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP with Barry Baltus finishing sixth on Friday and Zonta van den Goorbergh finishing seventeenth on the first day. On Saturday morning, it was finally decided which riders could go straight through to Q2 but in this session both were not in the top 14.
This meant that Van den Goorbergh and Baltus both had to take part in Q1. In that session the Dutchman rode the fourth time, securing himself a place in Q2 after all. Baltus eventually clocked the sixth time, putting him 20th on the grid. In Q2, Van den Goorbergh could not really make a fist anymore and posted the seventeenth lap time.
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P17: “We achieved the first goal of the weekend by getting into Q2. Although that had to be done via Q1 but either way we succeeded. The second qualifying session unfortunately didn’t go quite as planned and we also only had one tyre at our disposal. I made a small mistake on my fast lap and after that it was difficult to improve on that time. It certainly wasn’t a bad day but we just missed that little bit extra. The goal for tomorrow is to do a good race like in Barcelona and then we’ll see what’s possible.”
Barry Baltus – P20: “This was definitely not the qualifying session I was expecting. It was not a disaster but we didn’t manage to go to Q2 so that’s a bit disappointing. In the morning session my pace was not so bad and I was riding the bike quite well by myself. Now we need to find something to improve our feeling tomorrow. We’ll need to get towards the front and fight for better positions. It will be a long race with this front tyre but we’ll fight and then see where we end up.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “It was a tough qualifying for us today. It is incredible how fast the lap times were today compared to yesterday. Despite both riders having the speed, it was quite tough for Zonta and Barry as we were in Q1. Zonta did great in that session and managed to advance to Q2. Barry just missed out and ended up in sixth place.
If you have to take so much risk in Q1 to secure a place in Q2, it is sometimes difficult to repeat that in Q2. You then also only have one tyre left so then you can’t quite make the plan as you would like. With P17 and P20 we still have a good starting position in Mugello to get a good result tomorrow. We have to make sure we finish in the points with both riders and then I think we can look back on this race with a satisfied feeling and look ahead to the race in Assen.”
The 19-lap Moto2 race at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello will start at 12:15pm on Sunday afternoon.