Baltus and Van den Goorbergh finish outside the points on Sunday in Qatar
Fieten Olie Racing GP was unable to take any points back to Europe on Sunday at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. After being close to the top 15 in the early stages, Barry Baltus and Zonta van den Goorbergh eventually crossed the finish line in 18th and 19th respectively.
After a promising qualifying day at the Lusail International Circuit, Zonta van den Goorbergh and Barry Baltus both aimed for a points’ finish. Van den Goorbergh started well and held on in the top 15 in the opening phase of the race but as the race progressed, he dropped back. In the end, the Dutchman crossed the finish line in nineteenth place which meant he couldn’t add any points to his overall score.
Baltus, on the other hand, started badly but then managed to fight his way to the front. He too was briefly in the top fifteen but would drop back to eighteenth position at the end of the race. This brings to an end an overseas trip of almost two months in which there were highlights for Fieten Olie Racing GP with both riders in the top ten and disappointing moments in which they did not finish or finished outside the points.
Barry Baltus – P18: “To be honest I am very disappointed about my race, I expected a lot more. My start was not so bad but then I made two mistakes in the first lap. My pace wasn’t too bad but because of my position on track, my race was basically ruined already. It is a big shame but we cannot be sad about it for a long time as we have another Grand Prix next week.”
Zonta van den Goorbergh – P19: “It is very unfortunate how the race went today. This is definitely not the result I expected after my good feeling with the bike on Saturday and how fun it was to ride. It was the opposite today, partly because I suffered a lot of cramp. It’s a lesson for the future but for now it’s very bitter.”
Jarno Janssen – Fieten Olie Racing GP team manager: “The Qatar Grand Prix is over and it should be clear that today was definitely not our best day. It was a very tough race and we were not combative enough to fight for the points. That’s unfortunate and we have to learn from that. In a race like this, you see that you quickly fall back if you are not fierce enough in the opening stages. Then if you can’t make a fist and make up positions yourself then the pace drops and you end up outside the points. That happened today and I think that’s a real shame because these are definitely not the positions where we belonged this weekend. We can’t change it anymore and are now heading towards Valencia. It is the last race of a long season and we’ll have to go full steam ahead to finish the season well.”
The next Grand Prix of the season will take place next weekend from 24 to 26 November at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, the final one of 2023.