LADA’s Nicky Catsburg insists that he is happy to have scored his maiden World Touring Car Championship podium in Slovakia, despite missing out on the opportunity to take victory in the main race.
Catsburg had emerged as the leader after four laps when early leader José María López made a slight mistake. Whilst he then went on to lead the majority of the race, Catsburg was struggling with his tyres towards the end, allowing López to sneak through with two laps left.
Despite that, Catsburg held on to take third and score a first-ever WTCC podium on a weekend when the Vesta showed improved performance compared to the competition.
“At the end of the race I just struggled with my tyres, and then I saw Pechito [López] closing in and I was just hoping that he would leave me in P1 because he has won enough,” explained Catsburg. “But he didn’t and I understand; I’m very happy with the podium. Obviously I would have loved to be on P1 but I think P3 was not bad for us today.”
Catsburg believes that the team’s performances in Slovakia, including the Dutchman getting into Q3 for the third consecutive meeting, demonstrate an upturn in pace from LADA.
“Obviously the weight will play a role [in Hungary]. But I think it’s clear, everybody can see we’ve made a clear step. It would have been better if we had scored a bit better in the first two events but let’s see now from Budapest where we are. I think it’s going to be more difficult.”
López himself explained that when he lost the lead to Catsburg in the first half of the race he thought his race would be over, due to experiencing an unusual vibration in his C-Elysée.
“It was a good start and in the first two laps I managed to pull away a bit from Nicky, and then, I don’t remember but I think it was lap three in Turn 9, a big vibration, a noise of metal started to come from the left-rear,” explained López. “At that point, immediately I said on the radio something’s broken, it’s over.
“On the straight the noise was gone and then it came back in the last corner and I had the LADA next to me. We went onto the straight and he passed me. I just kept going, every single lap, every single metre, every single corner I was turning to the right, I was thinking it’s over. I tried to calm down and come back into concentration.
“I was asking how many laps to go, I just wanted to finish. And then I saw Nicky was suffering from the tyres. My car, taking off this little problem, was quick, so I said ‘OK, I go for it’ and if it has to break it will break. I passed him and managed to win. It’s a gift. Just to finish the race is a gift.”