Last minute scrutineering call scuppers Nicky Catsburg’s top 10 bid

Lada Sport Rosneft’s Nicky Catsburg missed the vital top ten cut-off for the reversed grid in qualifying, after the Dutch driver was summoned into technical scrutineering at the end of the second qualifying segment with two minutes to go and missed his chance to have one final shot at pole.

“I got caught out (by the scrutineering call), in the end it’s a weak excuse, but to be honest I think we could have made it into the top ten, and it’s a huge difference to start (both races) from P12, to one-time P10 and the other P1,” he said to TouringCarTimes.

“I’m very disappointed. It’s a strange rule, but apparently they do it everywhere, Formula 1, GP2 – for me it’s something very weird. You already don’t have a lot of time, and then they keep you in there for 30 seconds.

“In Q1 I did a 1:30.6, and then in Q2 I was one-tenth outside of P10 and then I went off. I shouldn’t have done a second lap, I should have just gone straight into the pits at that point then I would have had time to get weighted, put on new tyres. But looking back, if I hadn’t made that mistake we’d have been in the top ten and we’d all be happy.”