No points for Sasaki and Van den Goorbergh after disappointing race in Thailand

RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP left the Thai Grand Prix without points, as Ayumu Sasaki and Zonta van den Goorbergh finished outside the top twenty despite battling through extremely tough conditions.

Under the blazing sun and scorching temperatures, the 22-lap Moto2 race took place on Sunday at the Chang International Circuit. After a strong start, Ayumu Sasaki had a promising opening phase with the points’ positions in sight. However, as the race progressed the Japanese rider lost pace and dropped back, eventually crossing the finish line in 23^rd place, just outside the points.

For Zonta van den Goorbergh, it was a challenging race from the start, as he struggled to fight his way through the field. The Dutchman ultimately finished in 24^th place, bringing a disappointing end to a difficult weekend.

Ayumu Sasaki (P23 | +27,064):
“It was a difficult weekend for us but we managed to finish the race. It didn’t go as we expected but we know where we need to improve. In Argentina we’ll try to fix the problems we had and go from there. I don’t think it can be much worse so let’s try to come back strong. There are still 21 races to go so let’s see what we can do in Argentina.”

Zonta van den Goorbergh (P24 | +30,653):
“I certainly cannot be satisfied with today’s race. The feeling with the bike was not good, and I was unable to push. I felt like I got the maximum out of the package so it’s hard to understand where it went wrong. It is very disappointing to race like this and to start the season this way. It can and absolutely must be better—we know what we are capable of. Let’s all learn from this and make sure we perform better in Argentina.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager:
“We certainly cannot be satisfied with this result. It was a very tough Sunday for us, which actually came as a surprise. With the current level of competition in the Moto2 class, you are confronted with reality in a harsh way. Everything has to be 100% perfect to be able to score here.

Ayumu started the race well with a strong pace, and he might have been able to finish in the points. However, in the last ten laps, he struggled a lot and dropped back. He had a difficult winter recovering from his injury, which meant his preparation was not ideal. In any case, we have to take the positives from this and see it as a first step toward better results.

On Zonta’s side, we are disappointed with the result. On Saturday morning we had a strong performance with third place, showing that we have the speed. But otherwise, we underperformed. Today things didn’t go our way, which is disappointing both for him and for the team. We need to pinpoint the problem, figure out what went wrong, and improve it. We now look ahead to Argentina, where we need to show that we have done good work over the winter. This was a tough lesson and in two weeks we need to go for it again.”

The next Grand Prix will take place during the weekend of March 14-16 at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina.