The opening round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the weekend in Morocco (7-9 April, 2017) saw Nicky Catsburg make his debut with Polestar Cyan Racing and it proved to be a successful showing with two strong fourth-placed finishes, giving him a solid third position in the championship at this early stage of the season.
On how it was a weekend to learn, collect points and ensure double finishes
“This was always going to be a tough weekend and our objective was always to try and stay out of trouble and put laps on the Polestar TC1. We managed that mostly and despite a few issues, we finished the weekend with a lot of points, so I’m nothing but happy!
“Okay there was the spin in Q2 which wasn’t ideal. Q1 was good, no problems at all and in Q2 I was out on used tyres and going even faster. Everything felt great and then I just lost the rear end at turn 11. It was very strange and it messed up the session. In the end, it wasn’t important as we scored a lot of points as a team, we’re right up there, and it’s a good start for me in the drivers’ championship.”
On contact with Mehdi Bennani at the start of race two
“It was nothing mega, he just pushed me out and I lost positions as a result. Normally if you do that you try and give the place back. So, he got a penalty after the race and I was P4 for a second time. It wasn’t a big deal, we knew the situation and we were happy with the performance of the car.”
On the challenge of the first race of the season being at this very tricky circuit
“This was one of the tougher circuit for us I think. Perhaps outside of the car it sometimes looked more dramatic than it really was. It looked like we were locking brakes, but that wasn’t the car, the wheel would just lock when unloaded (in the air) and then when it hit the track there would be some smoke. But it was the same for all three S60s and it didn’t effect anything really.
On preparations ahead of round two in Italy at the end of the month
“The team will be working hard and looking at all of the data from this weekend. The next race is Monza and while I didn’t test there with the others earlier in the year, I know we have a lot of good information about the track – I can rely on my teammates – so it won’t be a problem at all. I’m looking forward to it, I’m sure it’ll be a great race.”