Van den Goorbergh qualifies on front row of the grid for last Grand Prix of 2024, Baltus starts from fourth row
The final qualifying day of 2024 went very well for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP. At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Zonta van den Goorbergh managed to qualify third, allowing him to start from the front row for the second time this year. Barry Baltus got hold of a very creditable twelfth starting position for his last race with the Dutch team.
The final Grand Prix weekend of 2024 started well for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP on Friday with an 11th time for Zonta van den Goorbergh and the 24th time for Barry Baltus, where it was clear that the Belgian still had more up his sleeve. As a result, the team went into the qualifying day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with confidence.
In the final practice session on Saturday morning, Baltus and Van den Goorbergh finished seventh and eighth respectively, which meant they qualified directly for Q2. Apart from one fast lap time, the Belgian and the Dutchman showed that they also had good pace over longer distance.
In the second qualifying session, Van den Goorbergh immediately asserted himself with his name at the top of the timesheet for a long time. In the end, the Dutchman finished third in Q2, qualifying on the front row of the grid for the second time this season and third time in his career. Baltus also rode a strong qualifying session, securing 12th place on the grid for his final Moto2 race with RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP.
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P3: “I’m obviously very happy with how it went today, I honestly didn’t expect to finish third in qualifying. In the morning session I already had a good pace which I was happy with, only I didn’t quite get it together in the time-attack. Eventually I finished seventh in that session so that definitely brought hope, but in qualifying things are always different with a session of only 15 minutes. I had already set a good lap time in the first run of qualifying and my aim was to grab a slipstream in the second run, however no one was there so I decided to do it by myself again. That worked out pretty well, even though I didn’t think that was possible completely on my own. I am obviously very happy with it and want to thank the team immensely for their efforts. Tomorrow is the race but with the pace I’ve shown I’m hopeful for a nice result.”
Barry Baltus – P12: “I think we have done quite a good job so far this weekend. We have worked well and focussed a lot on race pace with used tyres. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow but twelfth on the grid is not so bad. Earlier in the season I struggled a lot at this circuit so we’ve made a decent step. It’s a big shame that my crew chief Stefan is not here and we are missing him a lot, but so far we’ve done a good job with the team.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “It was a fantastic day. Yesterday I said I was expecting something great and that we were in good shape. In the morning session you could already see that a big step had been made by both riders with a seventh and eighth place, which allowed them both to go straight through to Q2. In the afternoon they made another step and Barry managed a very strong twelfth place in qualifying. Zonta managed to qualify on the front row of the grid for the second time this year with an amazing third place so everything looks good for tomorrow. It will definitely not be easy in the race and, as always, getting through the first lap well is crucial. In any case, there is a lot of confidence and that is very important.”
The 21-lap Moto2 race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will start at 12:15h on Sunday afternoon.