HEADLINES
- Nick Catsburg takes a Main Race victory in the FIA World Touring Car Championship Race of Russia
- Catsburg battles from tenth on the grid to second behind LADA SPORT ROSNEFT teammate Gabriele Tarquini in the Opening Race at Moscow Raceway
- Dutchman secures pole position with a 1.4s advantage over his nearest rival
- Main Race win comes on his one-year WTCC anniversary
- Catsburg now lies second in the WTCC Drivers’ standings
The story of the weekend
- After a busy build-up to LADA SPORT ROSNEFT’s home race, Catsburg began by driving to P1 in a dry first practice session
- Wet FP2 session saw Catsburg’s performance drop off, but Tarquini tried experimental setups with positive results, prompting LADA SPORT to adopt the configuration on all three Vestas
- In a wet qualifying, all three LADA SPORT drivers make the Q3 top ten shootout
- Catsburg the last to set a time having gone fastest in Q2, making the most of his new setup to grab pole position with a 1m57.722s
- LADA SPORT hoped for wet races, but took to the Opening Race grid in the dry, only for rain to fall on the out-lap
- Change in conditions forced officials to delay the start and declare a wet race
- Starting P10, Catsburg got away well and progressed through the field consistently, engaging in wheel-to-wheel battles with Yvan Muller, Jose Maria Lopez, Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani
- Catsburg set the fastest racing lap of the Opening Race to finish in P2, behind teammate Tarquini
- Another great getaway from pole in the Main Race saw Catsburg head the field from lights-to-flag
- Tarquini pushed hard to keep the pressure on for the duration, but finished second on a drying track
Nicky says…
On racing for a Russian team in Russia…
“There is a lot of pride within the LADA SPORT ROSNEFT team about what this programme means at home and you can see the desire to perform in front of the home fans and sponsors in everybody. The crowd was really crazy, which was nice, cheering every move we made and, with plenty of distinguished guest both from LADA and ROSNEFT, it was awesome to deliver these results here in Russia.”
On the performance in qualifying…
“I have to say I was really surprised at the margin I took pole by. It all came together on a great lap, but I have to thank Gabriele (Tarquini) and the engineers for helping with ideas on the setup that allowed us to achieve it.”
On his race starts…
“There is a big joke in the paddock on how bad my starts have been, so I was a little nervous about how they would be from pole position. But, as it turned out, I nailed the start in both races. It makes a big difference not to be looking in my mirrors straight away and having to fight to get places back!”
On what it feels like to be a WTCC winner…
“If you had told me that I would be winning here in Russia a year ago I would never have believed it. It is a dream result for me and the LADA SPORT ROSNEFT team.”
On holding P2 in the World Championship…
“When I was told in the press conference that I was P2 in the Drivers’ Championship I was genuinely surprised. Of course it is nice, and maybe if it rains every weekend we would have a shot at the championship. Realistically, Jose Maria Lopez is well clear at the front and it’s super-close all the way back to P8, so, while it’s nice, I don’t think you can read much into it at this stage.”