Van den Goorbergh secures another second row start in Qatar, Sasaki 24th

Zonta van den Goorbergh qualified sixth on Saturday for the Moto2 race at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. The Dutchman secured a direct place in Q2 on Friday and managed to qualify on the second row for the second consecutive weekend. His teammate Ayumu Sasaki is having a more challenging weekend and qualified 24th.

While temperatures during the day at the Lusail International Circuit approach 40°C, the evening conditions are considerably more pleasant at the Qatari track. On Friday evening, Van den Goorbergh set the sixth-fastest time in practice, securing a direct spot in Q2. Sasaki was just over a second short of the fastest rider and had to go through Q1. There, the Japanese rider missed out on a Q2 spot by only three-tenths of a second, ultimately qualifying 24th for the Qatar Grand Prix.

Van den Goorbergh made a strong start in Q2 and showed that he is one to watch. With a fastest lap of 1’56.774, the Dutchman posted an impressive sixth-best time and once again claimed a place on the second row. After scoring his first points of the year two weeks ago in Austin, Van den Goorbergh and the RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team aim to add a significant number of points in Qatar on Sunday.

Zonta van den Goorbergh (P6 – 1’56.774 / +0.473):
“This is the first time in my World Championship career that I’ve qualified on the first two rows, two races in a row. That’s obviously positive and shows we’ve been working the right way these past weekends. The feeling was already good yesterday evening and it was good again tonight. I had to abort my first lap but the second one was strong, and we can be happy with that. The race pace is good, so we’re going to make it a great race.”

Ayumu Sasaki (P24 – 1’57.674 / +1.373):
“It was a difficult day for us today and I’m not happy. In qualifying we managed to improve the feeling with the bike a lot compared to the afternoon session, so that’s something to be content with. Also our lap time is quite competitive, the gap to the fastest guys is not so big. Those are the only positive things about today so we need to improve a lot for tomorrow. If we can make a small step forward, then I think we can have a good race.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager:
“Zonta once again delivered a very good qualifying result today. For the third time this season we went straight into Q2, and for the second weekend in a row we’re starting from the second row. We’re showing that we’re strong and Zonta’s confidence is growing, which is very important and something we’ll need in the race. We’re very satisfied, and everyone on the team has worked hard to achieve this result.

Unfortunately, on Ayumu’s side we’re still not able to find that confidence needed to make the next step. We’re just falling a little short, and we’ll need to work together to ensure we start the weekend at a higher level. If we’re stronger in the first session, we can carry that momentum into qualifying. This puts us on the back foot and means we’re currently just missing out. That’s disappointing and makes tomorrow’s race very tough for him.”

The 18-lap Moto2 race at the Lusail International Circuit will begin Sunday at 18:15 local time (17:15 Central European time).