Van den Goorbergh starts Argentine Grand Prix from 11th place on the grid, P21 for Sasaki

Zonta van den Goorbergh qualified in 11th position on Saturday for the Moto2 race at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo. After securing a direct spot in Q2, the Dutchman ultimately fell less than half a second short of pole position. His teammate Ayumu Sasaki did not qualify for Q2 and ended up with the seventh-fastest time in Q1, placing him 21st on the starting grid in Argentina.

After a two-year-long absence, the MotoGP World Championship returns this weekend to the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina. Due to some cloud cover, the race weekend began under relatively cool conditions. Zonta van den Goorbergh finished Friday in 13th place, securing a direct entry into Q2, while Ayumu Sasaki posted the 17th fastest time, requiring him to compete in Q1.

In the Q1 session, the Japanese rider put in a solid lap time but fell just two-tenths short of making it into Q2. With the seventh-fastest time in Q1, Sasaki will start Sunday’s Moto2 race from 21st on the grid. Van den Goorbergh performed strongly in Q2 and appeared capable of securing a top-ten position. However, he missed out by just a few thousandths of a second, but from 11th place the Dutchman has a good chance for a strong result in the race.

Zonta van den Goorbergh (P11 – 1’41.319 / +0,449):
“Compared to the previous race weekend, we can of course be satisfied with how qualifying went. In terms of lap time we are in a good position, with a 0.4-second gap to pole position and 0.2 seconds to second place. Our race pace is strong, even better than our one-lap speed, which we have struggled with this weekend. I wasn’t able to get much extra out of a new tyre, and a few issues emerged.

It’s also a bit disappointing that I missed out on seventh place by just 0.032 seconds, but that’s just how Moto2 is. In the beginning of the session I tried to get into a group, but in the end I decided to do it by myself, just like in Barcelona last year where that worked well too. Our pace is good, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race—we’ll see what’s possible.”

Ayumu Sasaki (P21 – 1’41.765 / +0,977):
“It was a positive day overall. We managed to improve a lot from the morning session to the qualifying. It’s a bit of a shame that we didn’t manage to go to Q2 because we were very close. Everyone made a big step in the afternoon so we didn’t expect to be in this position with this lap time. Anyway, we’re very close in the fight for points so I will try my very best. I will try to learn a lot in the race and hopefully we can come back home with some points, that would be great.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP team manager:
“I think we can be very satisfied with today. Zonta went straight through to Q2, which is a strong achievement of course. It gives you a kind of safety net since you don’t have to go through Q1. Ayumu was very close and spent a long time in the top four of Q1 but just missed out in the end. The pace in Q1 was already very fast, with lap times under the lap record.

We can be pleased with the positions we’ve secured, although it will be a tough challenge for Ayumu to start from 21st place. Nevertheless, it’s a big improvement compared to the weekend in Thailand, so we’re confident that both riders can have a good race tomorrow. However, the race is the race—you can’t predict it based on qualifying results—but we’re heading into it with a positive mindset.”

The 21-lap Moto2 race at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo is set to start on Sunday afternoon at 13:15h local time, 17:15h Central European time).