Sasaki scores points in Austria with thirteenth place in Moto2 race, tough weekend for Van den Goorbergh

Ayumu Sasaki finished thirteenth on Sunday afternoon in the Moto2 race at the Red Bull Ring. The Japanese rider started strongly but had to fight his way back after contact with another rider, eventually securing three points. Zonta van den Goorbergh crossed the line in 21st place, bringing a difficult weekend in Austria to an end.

Starting from fifteenth on the grid, Sasaki got away well and was close to the top ten, before losing several positions after contact with another rider. The Japanese rider did not let this unsettle him, setting a strong pace and eventually finishing in thirteenth place. It is the third time this season that Sasaki has scored points, now sitting 22nd in the championship with a total of eleven points.

Van den Goorbergh had qualified nineteenth after narrowly missing out on Q2 on Saturday afternoon. In the race, however, the Dutchman was unable to make progress and eventually finished 21st, leaving him outside the points.

Zonta van den Goorbergh (P21 / +31.080):
“It was a really tough race today in which we didn’t have much to bring. It was clear that we were losing out on acceleration and it’s frustrating to see the competition riding away. I tried to compensate a bit on the brakes, but in most cases you just get pushed off track, which is also why I received a Long Lap penalty. Looking at the data, braking and cornering were not really the problem, but on acceleration we simply couldn’t keep up. We’ll see what we can do about this in Hungary, although the average speed there is a bit lower anyway. On to the next one.”

Ayumu Sasaki (P13 / +15.987):
“I am happy to have finished the race inside the points. I think we had a bit more potential because I lost some positions in the beginning of the race, and couldn’t manage to come back. Anyway, our pace during the race was good. There is still some room to improve and throughout the race I was able to understand in which areas, so that is positive. It is a great start to the second part of the season and we will keep working. Hopefully next weekend will be better.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager:
“Ayumu achieved a nice thirteenth place here in Austria. He fought well in the race and in fact the whole weekend went quite well, he was consistently competitive and ultimately scored points again. At the beginning of the race he was further up the order but after contact with another rider he lost some positions. He was able to recover those quite well and in the end we can be pretty satisfied with this result. With that positivity we continue next week in Hungary.

For Zonta it was a difficult weekend after just missing out on Q2 yesterday and having to start from P19. However, we struggled with engine issues all weekend, it seemed the speed in the engine wasn’t there as it should have been. That forces you to ride differently than normal. Unfortunately, it also resulted in exceeding track limits too often, which happens very quickly at this circuit. It was certainly not the result we had hoped for and we need to see how we can fix this in Hungary. In any case, we head to the Balaton Park circuit in a few days with our heads held high.”

The next Grand Prix will be held next weekend, 22–24 August, at the Balaton Park circuit in Hungary. It is the first time this circuit appears on the Grand Prix calendar.