Polestar Cyan Racing’s Nicky Catsburg will be looking to further improve on his haul of results this season, as the FIA World Touring Car Championship has already started getting their race weekend underway at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
With the Dutchman having posted the third fastest time around the 25.9-km circuit behind the Münnich Motorsport Citröen of Rob Huff and Honda Civic of Norbert Michelisz in the test session earlier on, he is confident of being able to close the gap to current championship leader Tiago Monteiro.
“The points are in your mind, especially as Honda has started to talk tactics with Norbert to support Tiago who is leading the championship,” said Catsburg, who is also competing at the headline event of the weekend, the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring, for BMW customer outfit ROWE Racing.
The 29-year-old, who took his first podium with the team at the Hungaroring last time out, is aiming for further success, especially with the bolstering that the team has had with a secret test that was carried out using the S60 Polestar road car a year ago.
“I think this weekend is a good opportunity to step up our results with the ambition to beat Tiago twice to gain points back on him. The Nürburgring suits our car and victory is definitely the goal.”
Even with 80 kilos of ballast on board, the unique layout of the Nordschliefe will be one of the key factors, as well as experience being a telling factor, with the likes of Catsburg having competed multiple times at the circuit.
“We have completed three race weekends and you can tell that the gloves are slowly coming off between drivers and teams,” said Polestar Head of Motorsport, Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, whose outfit is currently leading the Team standings with 294 points, just 12 ahead of Honda.
“Things will only get tougher as the season progresses. We are definitely looking forward to the Nürburgring as the car performed really well here last year and we hope for a strong result.”