Van den Goorbergh qualifies second at Balaton Park, Sasaki also achieves best qualifying result
Zonta van den Goorbergh qualified second on Saturday afternoon for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Dutchman equalled his best qualifying result and missed out on pole position by just 0.050 seconds. Teammate Ayumu Sasaki also achieved his best qualifying result in the Moto2 class with ninth place at Balaton Park.
The first Hungarian Grand Prix in 33 years has started well for RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP. Ayumu Sasaki ended the opening day in tenth place which earned him direct entry into Q2, while Zonta van den Goorbergh was unable to complete his fast laps on Friday due to a brake issue.
Once that problem was resolved on Saturday, Van den Goorbergh showed his pace. After setting the fastest lap in Q1, he entered Q2 full of confidence. With a very impressive lap time of 1’40.430, the Dutchman qualified in second, missing out on pole by just 0.050 seconds. It is the first time since the final Grand Prix of 2024 that Van den Goorbergh will start from the front row, and the fourth time in his career.
Sasaki also competed in the second qualifying session and ultimately set a 1’40.832, just 0.452 seconds off pole position. This secured ninth place on the grid, his best qualifying result so far in Moto2.
Zonta van den Goorbergh (P2 – 1’40.430 / +0.050):
“The day started a little frustrating with the same issues as yesterday, but fortunately we were able to solve them before qualifying. I used Q1 to find my rhythm and that went really well, with the fastest lap of the session. Then in Q2 I set the second fastest time, which of course I’m very happy with. It was a difficult start to the weekend but to finish Saturday like this is fantastic. Our pace is good, so we’ll see what we can do with that tomorrow. I want to thank everyone for their support and we’ll try to go with the frontrunners tomorrow.”Ayumu Sasaki (P9 – 1’40.832 / +0.452):
“It was a good qualifying session for us today, in the end we managed to finish in 9th place. This starting position on the third row is my personal best in Moto2 so I am happy about today. We still have room to improve because I felt that there was something preventing me from going a bit faster. Tomorrow we will try to improve that, although our pace already looks good. We will try to stay there and finish the race in a good way.”Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager:
“It was a great team performance today, both Zonta and Ayumu rode very well. A fantastic second place for Zonta and an impressive ninth place for Ayumu shows that we have done a good job together. The riders managed to find that last little bit they needed. Tomorrow will be a very tough race and it’s difficult to predict what we can expect. For now, it’s important that we’re well qualified. Overtaking is difficult on this circuit, so let’s hope for a good start and that we can stay out of trouble.”
The Moto2 race over 22 laps at the Balaton Park Circuit will get underway on Sunday afternoon at 12:15 local time.