Catsburg Feels Corvette Weight Increase “Wasn’t Justified”

Nicky Catsburg believes that the pre-race weight increase handed to the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R ahead of Sunday’s Suzuka 1000km “wasn’t justified” after battling his way to third overall in the revived Intercontinental GT Challenge race.

Factory Corvette driver Catsburg was part of the all-Pro lineup for the No. 2 Johor Motorsports JMR Corvette alongside Alexander Sims and Scott McLaughlin, which came through from ninth on the grid to take the final podium spot.

It followed a change to the Balance of Performance released on the morning of the race, which gave the Z06 GT3.R an additional 20kg while also giving both the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Porsche 911 GT3 R more power.

After a race largely dominated by BMW and Team WRT, Catsburg, who set the fastest individual time in qualifying, praised the JMR team for maximizing its package but made his disagreement with the late BoP changes clear.

“I think we executed really well, with no mistakes on-track or on pit lane,” he told Sportscar365. “We had a lot of weight on board but the car still felt great.

“We set it up in a way to handle the weight and it went really well. We didn’t have the pace to win obviously, but it’s still nice to finish on the podium and the sister [No. 99] car was also on the podium [in the Pro-Am class], so a good day.

“The extra weight never helps. Already we were the heaviest car, and I didn’t think [the BoP change] wasn’t justified when you look at the BMW was so fast all weekend.

“In qualifying I just got lucky with the red flags, I had two clear laps and many other drivers didn’t get to finish their laps, so I think they got that wrong. But it is what it is; it’s part of BoP racing. It’s not easy job that they are doing.”

JMR’s podium finish came after an entertaining side-by-side duel between Catsburg and the No. 6 Origine Motorsport car of Bastian Buus as darkness fell over Suzuka, with the Dutchman finally making the pass stick around the outside into Turn 7.

Prior to that, Catsburg was shown the black-and-white warning flag for forcing the No. 61 EBM Giga Porsche, which had long since fallen off the lead lap after starting at the back of the field, off the circuit exiting the hairpin.

“There was a lot of contact,” said Catsburg. “At one stage, there was one driver behind me who was two laps down and I was really annoyed at him, and I decided I was going to race him hard, and I did. I got a warning for that, which was deserved.

“But there were some really nice and fair battles, especially against [the No. 6 Porsche], going side-by-side in the first sector. That was really cool.”

Asked whether he could race again for JMR in future, Catsburg replied: “It has been super nice working for the team, it’s been a lot of fun. Nothing confirmed yet, but hopefully we can do more together. I am pushing hard for it.”

Sims, who has been part of the JMR lineup for two of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS rounds so far this year as well as for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, praised Catsburg for his iron-man stint in the No. 2 Corvette.

“Nicky was hands-down the quickest guy in the car, and I was pushing the team to keep him in the car,” Sims told Sportscar365.

“He did three hours in a row and he got us the podium. He was able to keep track position in a way that I don’t think Scott or I would have been able to if we were jumping in the car fresh, so full credit to Nicky.”