Very tough qualifying day for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP at the Sachsenring
Saturday at the Sachsenring was very difficult for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP. Barry Baltus couldn’t improve on the 27th position in qualifying while Zonta van den Goorbergh qualified in 28th place for the German Grand Prix due to several problems.
After last Sunday’s crash at the TT Circuit Assen, it was going to be a difficult race weekend anyway for Zonta van den Goorbergh at the Sachsenring. Despite not feeling fully fit, the Dutchman got into action at the German circuit and did not do so without merit. However, the Moto2 class is ruthless and offers few chances to riders who are not at full strength.
Despite making strides in the final practice session on Saturday morning, both Van den Goorbergh and Baltus had to go to Q1. In this session, both riders did not come close to being able to advance to Q2. A thirteenth time in Q1 put Baltus 27th on the grid while Van den Goorbergh posted the fourteenth time, resulting in him having to start from 28th position.
Barry Baltus – P27: “It has been a disappointing day today. We didn’t start too bad in the morning where we made some improvements, but in the afternoon nothing went our way. I didn’t get a clear lap and of course I am not happy with the result. I think our race pace is not so bad, even though we will have to start far down the grid. We need to continue working and at least take the positives from this morning where we made a little step forward.”
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P28: “It’s a bit difficult to put today into words. In qualifying, I had a problem with the brakes which prevented me from doing a decent lap. We couldn’t solve the problem in time and because of this we are practically at the back. This makes me hugely disappointed, especially after the hard work of the past few weeks and the pain I have endured over the past few days. It is very disappointing but unfortunately it is no different. The morning session went reasonably well so we will see if we can make up some positions tomorrow.”
Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager: “Things are not going our way this weekend. We still have to deal with Zonta’s nasty injury but in qualifying we had a problem with the brakes which caused that whole session to be useless. It remains a technical sport and then these things can happen. That is very unfortunate because this also going to make the race a very difficult challenge. Anyway, I am very proud of Zonta because of what he has shown this weekend, we could also have been here without him.
On the other side of the pit box, I think Barry is definitely ready for a period of rest. With all the adjustments we make we get the same feedback; the feeling is not there. In this class, you know you don’t stand a chance if you are dealing with problems like this. This morning it still looked positive but this afternoon in qualifying it wasn’t good enough. We now hope we can have a solid race tomorrow and then we can all make the most of the summer break and then get back to it in a stronger way.”
The 25-lap Moto2 race at the Sachsenring will start at 12:15pm on Sunday afternoon.