RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP concludes difficult Le Mans weekend without points

RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP was unable to score points on Sunday during the French Grand Prix at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans. Zonta van den Goorbergh crossed the finish line in nineteenth place after being forced to start from the pit lane due to a problem on the grid. Teammate Ayumu Sasaki finished twentieth in the 22-lap race.

After suffering a heavy crash on Friday morning caused by another rider and narrowly missing out on a Q2 spot by less than a tenth of a second on Saturday afternoon, Van den Goorbergh faced a new challenge on Sunday. Just before the start his bike stalled, forcing the Dutchman to begin the race from the pit lane. Despite the setback, Van den Goorbergh delivered a strong performance with an impressive pace, eventually finishing in nineteenth place.

Sasaki gained several positions at the start but was unable to challenge the riders battling for points. The Japanese rider held his own in several on-track duels but ultimately crossed the finish line in twentieth place.

Zonta van den Goorbergh (P19 / +32,639):
“After a weekend like this, there are a lot of things to say, but it doesn’t make a difference anymore. Things simply didn’t go our way from the start, beginning with the heavy crash on Friday. Yesterday, riding went reasonably well, but when I woke up this morning, I didn’t feel right. I struggled with that during the race as well, even though I was still able to ride quite a good race. The issue we experienced at the start in Jerez happened again here, so that’s something we really need to fix. The fault doesn’t lie with the team, but it’s essential that this doesn’t happen again.

In the end, I still managed to ride a decent race, my pace was good, and I actually had a pretty good feeling on the bike. The pain made it tough, but I was able to ride consistently. I want to thank everyone who helped me this weekend to be as fit as possible for the race. Weekends like this are part of the sport, even though you’d obviously rather not have them. From here, we can improve, and I’m looking forward to recovering well this week so we can come back strong at Silverstone.”

Ayumu Sasaki (P20 /+39,496):
“It was a very difficult race today. All I could do was try and finish the race. I didn’t have a great feeling with the bike so I just tried to avoid a crash and bring the bike home. I am disappointed with our performance today and we have a lot of work ahead of us. After two DNFs, our goal was to finish the race so at least I’m pleased to have finished the race. Now we have to focus on improving our feeling and work on my riding as well. We continue working and never give up, and we’ll try again in Silverstone.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager:
“Race day certainly didn’t bring us what we had hoped for beforehand. We were aiming for a fairly stable race with two good results, but unfortunately things already went wrong for Zonta before the start. When engaging the gear the bike stalled, forcing him to start from the pit lane. Then you know it’s going to be a very tough race, although I must emphasise that his race pace was actually quite good. In the end, a nineteenth place is not why we came to Le Mans, and that is very disappointing. We need to analyse how something like that could have happened. It’s a sport involving human and mechanical aspects, so we have to look at that carefully.

Ayumu had a fairly good start to the race and was in a battle where positions were constantly changing. At a certain point, Zonta joined this group, but he eventually turned out to be faster and was able to break away. After a few DNFs, we also need to look ahead with him and work with what we have now.”

The next Grand Prix will take place during the weekend of May 23 to 25 at Silverstone in Great Britain.