At Balaton Park, the Fantic Racing Lino Sonego riders battle through a demanding race, keeping the Team Championship lead firmly in their hands.
The inaugural Hungarian GP ended on a positive note for Fantic Racing Lino Sonego, as the team leaves Balaton Park still leading the Team standings and confirming its status as a key contender in the Moto2 World Championship.
Aron Canet delivered a strong start, quickly moving close to the podium positions and challenging Dixon for third place. On the Hungarian circuit, with very few overtaking opportunities, the Spaniard later had to give up some ground, eventually crossing the line in sixth position. Once again, Canet secured a top-six finish and valuable championship points.
It was an intense race for Barry Baltus, who showed great determination despite suffering from fever throughout the weekend. Starting 15th after a difficult qualifying, the Belgian avoided early crashes and worked his way up to 13th place. A long lap penalty dropped him back a spot, but in the closing laps Barry found the energy to snatch 12th at the checkered flag. A result that highlights his maturity and ability to manage even challenging physical conditions, along with a race pace that leaves optimism for the next round.
In the riders’ standings, Aron Canet remains second and Barry Baltus fourth, while Fantic Racing Lino Sonego consolidates its lead in the Team Championship with an unchanged gap over its rivals.
The MotoGP World Championship will be back in action in two weeks at Montmeló for the Catalan GP, where the Fantic riders will once again be ready to fight for the top positions.
Aron Canet:
“I’m not fully satisfied with today’s race result, even if it’s still useful for the championship standings. I don’t feel we’ve found the perfect setup yet, but we know exactly where to work to be at 100%. Now our focus is already on Barcelona.”
Barry Baltus:
“For sure, it’s not the result we wanted today, but considering the weekend overall and the fact that I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, I think we can still be satisfied. This is not our real place, because once again we showed that we are much faster than the guys we were fighting with today. The pace was there, but we couldn’t fully take advantage of it. We have to look at the positives: we know exactly where we need to improve, and we know how crucial Saturday is – it counts for almost 80% of the race. Scoring points is always better than nothing, and now we focus on the next GP. The team did an amazing job this weekend, and I’m sure we’ll come back stronger in the next one.”
Roberto Locatelli, Team Manager:
“It was a tough race, but we were still among the main contenders on track. The issues we faced on Friday meant we reached qualifying and the race setup a bit on the limit and, in a class where details are everything, those small imperfections prevented Aron Canet from fighting for the podium. With Barry, we need to be quicker and sharper in applying the right qualifying strategies: he is an extremely fast rider, but starting too far back makes it very difficult to turn the race around. We’ll keep working all together, as we always do at Fantic Racing, to be better prepared and more competitive already in Barcelona.”
