Van den Goorbergh qualifies in 15th place after being fastest in Q1, Baltus ends in 23rd on Saturday in Austria
Zonta van den Goorbergh has qualified in fifteenth place for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon. After managing to ride the fastest time in Q1, the Dutchman came to fifteenth in Q2. Teammate Barry Baltus qualified in 23rd at the Red Bull Ring due to a crash.
This weekend the 11th Grand Prix of the season will be held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Friday went somewhat difficult for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP with a 23rd place on the timesheet for Van den Goorbergh and a 26th time for Baltus, however it was clear that there was still more in it.
Both riders showed that on Saturday as they narrowly missed out on direct qualification for Q2. This meant they both had to take part in Q1. In this session Van den Goorbergh set the fastest lap time, securing himself a place in Q2, Baltus unfortunately crashed out, finishing 23rd.
The second qualifying session was interrupted by a red flag situation which was inconvenient for Van den Goorbergh, but he still set the fifteenth fastest lap time and the 18-year-old rider was just 0.516 seconds short of pole position.
The 23-lap Moto2 race at the Red Bull Ring is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 12:15pm. The weather forecast is very changeable after severe weather also hit the Austrian circuit on Saturday afternoon.
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P15: “I am happy to be at the top of the timesheet again during a session. I felt good in Q1, rode my laps alone and was the fastest in the end. Q2 was certainly not bad either but the red flag threw a spanner in the works, both for me and for the other riders from Q1 who only had one new tyre. That’s a shame because there was definitely more in it, but in the end we are only half a second off pole position. In that respect, we are in a pretty good position but of course there is still room for improvement. I feel that I’m riding well, we just need to adjust the bike a bit more to my liking. In every session we are getting closer so hopefully we can make another step in the race tomorrow. It will be a long and tough race and the weather conditions will also play a role so we will see what it will be.’
Barry Baltus – P23: “For sure I’m a bit disappointed about qualifying but not about the day in general. This morning I made a big step forward and I also managed to improve in qualifying but unfortunately the result isn’t there. In qualifying I did my first laps alone and when I went out with the second tyre I crashed. Still, our pace is there and I think we made a very big step today. I am happy about this and I want to continue working in this way. Tomorrow will definitely not be easy because we are quite far down on the grid but I want to fight and finish this race well.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “Yesterday we struggled pretty hard but today both Zonta and Barry made great strides. Unfortunately, we were just a few hundredths short of direct placement for Q2. In Zonta’s case, we had to deal with that again later in Q2 because we only had one new tyre left for him, the red flag meant he couldn’t make the most of it. Still, 15th place on the grid is not bad and, even with the changeable weather forecast, it will be a challenging race. He has shown what he can do so I hope to finish well in the points with him again tomorrow.
For Barry, it will be an even slightly tougher challenge from 23rd on the grid. It was a shame things went wrong in Q1 but the improvement he made today is promising. On his side too, we are hoping for a finish in the points, that would be a big boost.”