Photo: WTCC Media

Nicky Catsburg rues disastrous last race with Lada

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Unlike team-mate Gabriele Tarquini’s weekend, Nicky Catsburg’s was one to forget at Qatar, with the Dutch driver fighting at the back of the pack after an incident-packed weekend at the Losail International Circuit.

After qualifying down in 11th with an unknown set-up issue, the 28-year-old was running well at the start of the opening race before he was sent to the back of the pack after contact from the privateer Citroën of Mehdi Bennani, which saw him have to fight his way back through the field to pick up just four points with eighth.

“At the start there were a lot of crashes but I got around it and I think I was sixth and fighting with Yvan Muller, but then Mehdi Bennani smashed into me and that destroyed my race as I lost a lot of positions,” said Catsburg to TouringCarTimes. “In the second race, I probably had the best start of my WTCC career in terms of time gained, but (Tom) Chilton and I went wide at Turn 1, and the other guys went to the inside, and then at Turn 5 Hugo (Valente) was a bit enthusiastic and he smashed into me and we both had damage. This stuff happens, and in the end it’s not like I was going to win the race here.”

Catsburg rejoined the race but was half a lap behind when the race restarted. The Dutch driver then missed out on a prize opportunity when his Italian team-mate picked up the Tag Heuer award and the watch that goes with it for setting the fastest lap, when he eschewed a suggestion from his engineer to pit for new tyres and try for the fastest lap.

“My engineer came on the radio and said do I want to box and put fresh tyres on to win the watch for setting the fastest lap for both races, but I thought they didn’t do that anymore so I told him no and carried on, but after the race I’ve found out Gabriele has won a beautiful watch for his fastest lap in the first race,” laughed Catsburg.

The Dutch driver is still looking at options to continue in the championship in 2017 following Lada’s withdrawal, but admits that it’s a tall ask at the moment, with just six factory drives available at Honda and Volvo, and with most of them understood to be filled.

“There might be a chance, but at the moment it’s still far away,” said the Dutchman.