Van den Goorbergh qualifies in 15th place at Chang International Circuit, Baltus ends 22nd
Fieten Olie Racing GP made a good start to the Thai Grand Prix at the Chang International Circuit. In tropical conditions, Zonta van den Goorbergh managed to qualify in fifteenth place on Saturday while Barry Baltus secured 22nd place on the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Under sunny but especially very hot conditions, the Thai Grand Prix is being held this weekend at the Chang International Circuit. Zonta van den Goorbergh started well on Friday where he finished the first day in 13th place. Barry Baltus found things a lot more tough and finished 25th on Friday. On Saturday morning, the Dutchman managed to set the 13th lap time again, securing direct entry to Q2; the Belgian had to go to Q1.
Baltus managed to significantly improve his lap time in Q1, under less favourable conditions, but it was not enough for a place in Q2. As a result, he will have to start Sunday’s Thai Grand Prix from 22nd place. Not everything went according to plan for Van den Goorbergh either, which meant he had to settle for 15th place in the second qualifying session. However, it offers perspective for Fieten Olie Racing GP to score points in the race.
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P15: “The qualifying day is behind us and in the end I am not completely satisfied. We were 0.7 seconds off pole position and only three tenths on the second row of the grid, which is not bad but we could have done more. It didn’t quite go according to plan but that can happen, even so we’re not in a bad position. We can definitely have a good race tomorrow and the conditions seem good, hopefully we can take home some points.”
Barry Baltus – P22: “The result doesn’t show our potential from today. We struggled in the morning but qualifying was much better. It’s a pity that we couldn’t put it all together today. Tomorrow is race day and I am going to do my very best regardless.”
Jarno Janssen – Fieten Olie Racing GP team manager: “I think we had quite a good day today with both riders. It was a pity Barry couldn’t do the times in the morning like he did this afternoon, it would have looked different. We do have a tough job ahead of us tomorrow but we have the speed. I’m curious to see where we can finish tomorrow, in any case it looks promising.”
The 22-lap Moto2 race at the Chang International Circuit gets underway Sunday at 13:15 local time, 07:15 Dutch time. Note that the clock goes back by one hour due to winter time.