Van den Goorbergh starts home race in Assen from the fourth row, Sasaki narrowly misses out on Q2

Zonta van den Goorbergh qualified twelfth on Saturday afternoon for the Moto2 race at the TT Circuit Assen. Despite a small crash, the Dutchman managed to progress through Q1 and ultimately secured a fourth-row start for this special edition of the Dutch TT. His teammate Ayumu Sasaki also had the pace for Q2 but missed out due to a track limits violation.

The 94th Dutch TT got off to a delayed start on Friday at the TT Circuit Assen after a large oil spill occurred during an earlier session. In cloudy and fairly cool conditions, Zonta van den Goorbergh ended the first day in fifteenth, while Ayumu Sasaki finished seventeenth. This meant that neither rider qualified directly for Q2 and both had to go through Q1 on Saturday afternoon. Both had the speed, but numerous yellow flag situations disrupted their sessions.

On Saturday it remained cloudy but it was slightly warmer at the TT Circuit Assen, and the two RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP riders were highly motivated to deliver a strong qualifying performance at the team’s home race. At the end of Q1, Van den Goorbergh crashed in the Strubben corner, but luckily his lap time was fast enough to secure a place in Q2. Since he was able to get the bike back to the pit box quickly, the team had enough time to get it ready again for Q2. Sasaki was also among the top four in Q1, but his fastest lap was cancelled due to a track limits violation, leaving him fifth in Q1 and qualifying nineteenth overall.

In Q2 Van den Goorbergh started strongly but was repeatedly hindered by riders waiting for others. The Dutchman managed to set the twelfth-fastest time on his own and will start his home Grand Prix from the fourth row.

Zonta van den Goorbergh (P12 – 1’35.429 / +0.652):
“I’d be lying if I said I was satisfied with this result, but I think a racer is rarely fully satisfied. It was a chaotic qualifying but despite that, twelfth place is still a good result—especially considering I had to come through Q1. In Q2, I was only able to complete one of my four laps, which is a bit frustrating. It was very chaotic in the big group, with many riders waiting on each other. I know I don’t like riding in big groups during qualifying, but this was too chaotic. In the end, we’re classified twelfth, just 0.6 seconds off pole, which isn’t bad at all. I’m really looking forward to race tomorrow!”

Ayumu Sasaki (P19 – 1’35.726 / +1.051):
“Qualifying was a little bit disappointing in the end, because we didn’t go from Q1 to Q2. The speed was there but I made a mistake by exceeding track limits, so they cancelled my fastest lap time. In general we are fast, so I feel confident for tomorrow and I think we can fight from here. We will try our best tomorrow and hopefully have a good race in the team’s home round.”

Jarno Janssen – RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP Team Manager:
“Because we had some bad luck yesterday, both riders had to start in Q1 today. I thought both rode very strongly, and in Zonta’s case that resulted in a place in Q2, despite a small crash. Ayumu also set a very good lap time but we could already see he had exceeded track limits, which was really unfortunate. The Q2 session was a bit messy, with many riders waiting around for a tow, and that didn’t work out well for Zonta. Still, he managed to set a solid lap time and with a spot on the fourth row, we’re certainly in a good position.

Aside from the action on track, we’ve already welcomed many guests to our VIP area over the past two days, and it’s been great to see how enthusiastic everyone has been. Tomorrow we’ll make it a fantastic final day, and of course, we’re aiming for a strong result with Zonta and Ayumu in our home race.”

The Moto2 race over 22 laps at the TT Circuit Assen will start at 12:15 PM on Sunday afternoon.