Corvette Teammates Catsburg, Varrone Chasing 24H Triple

Corvette Racing co-drivers Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone are looking for their third 24-hour race victory this year, lining up in separate categories for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Both drivers have won a pair of 24-hour races so far this year, teaming up for GTE-Am class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month alongside Ben Keating.

Separately, Varrone captured LMP3 class honors in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, while Catsburg was part of Frikadelli Racing Team’s breakthrough overall triumph at the Nürburgring 24 in May.

Now at Spa, Catsburg joins the lineup for the No. 75 SunEnergy 1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in Pro-Am.

Varrone, meanwhile, teams up with FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Am rivals Julien Piguet, Simon Mann and Ulysse de Pauw in a Bronze Cup-entered AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

“Yeah, it’s funny,” Catsburg told Sportscar365 about the unique opportunity for both drivers. “I almost feel like Nico is like a little brother somehow.

“He’s so young, and I recognize a lot of him in me when I was that age. He’s just a wonderful kid and he’s doing an unbelievable job.

“He deserves the races and the results that he has had so far and I don’t see why he doesn’t have an opportunity to win his class here in Spa.

“He’s in a good car, he has an amazing lineup here, and I’m sure he’ll do well, so, it would be incredible for him to win three events in a season.”

In addition to their separate wins at Daytona and the Nürburgring, the duo has enjoyed a successful WEC campaign with three class victories and second place during the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in April.

“The season is just insane and I need to sometimes remind myself like, ‘Please enjoy this a lot, because it doesn’t happen so often,'” said Catsburg.

“You have seasons where you win nothing for no reason, and now everything seems to be, I wouldn’t say falling in our lap, we still have to perform well, but sometimes you also need some luck, and we’ve definitely had some luck.”

Varrone, for his part, said he’s looking for a strong result for AF Corse and its 296 GT3, which has endured a tough opening phase of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season.

“It would be awesome, really,” he said. “I mean, if we could take this victory, it would be awesome because also I think that for this car, the year has been a little bit tough so far.

“So it would be nice if we can show up for them, for AF Corse also. A nice race here so that we can take the victory, for sure in our class. That would be awesome.

“For me, it would feel great.  I’m a racing driver and every race I do, I want to win, right? So for me, it would be awesome to do it and it gives you more confidence.

“Also, I feel like then if you can win your class and do a good job here, then you have more experience for this kind of event.

“So for the future, maybe it helps. Try to do our best, every one of us and let’s see where we end up.”

Catsburg Wants to Win 24H Spa ‘For Kenny Habul’

The Dutchman faces an uphill battle in the quest for his third 24-hour victory of the year after Kenny Habul was ruled out of the event due to a crash in Pre-Qualifying on Thursday.

“This is a really insane one, because obviously now Kenny has had a crash,” Catsburg said.

“He’s not able to race, and the car is not able to race, so we need to find a new car, we need to find a new teammate.

“Twenty-four hour races, especially Spa, it’s difficult enough when you do it in a normal way, and now it’s going to be a big compromise for us.

“For sure, we’re going to try and win this race for Kenny, because you know what’s so crazy about Kenny? He seems to be more concerned about us being able to do the race than about his own health.

“So it’s really cool that he’s giving us this chance, now we just need to find our ways to make it happen.”