If there was a sportscar driver you wanted in your car for a 24-hour race this year, it was Nicky Catsburg. Victories at the Nurburgring (outright), Le Mans (GTE Am) and Spa (Pro-Am), each in different cars, underlined that the versatile Dutchman is operating at the top of his game.
He was part of the strongest line-up in GTE Am’s WEC swansong, but Catsburg certainly played his part in sealing the title with an unprecedented two rounds to spare. His defence against Alessio Rovera for victory in Portimao was inch-perfect, and he was consistently near the top of the pace averages as Corvette surged into contention at Le Mans.
Q&A with Nicky Catsburg
Speak with anyone who has worked with Catsburg, and they’ll tell you about the calming influence he has on a team. As Earl Bamber put it earlier this year, the easy-going Dutchman “brings a great vibe”, which is appreciated by those he works with. And that down-to-earth nature also applies to his reflections on what Catsburg acknowledges was “an amazing season”.
PLUS: The other Dutch racing ace enjoying a standout 2023
The Corvette factory driver is quick to point out that his successes over the past 12 months, which also counts winning the Asian Le Mans Series GT title in a Walkenhorst BMW, is “not because I have become a better driver all of a sudden”. Discussing his Nurburgring victory with Bamber, David Pittard and Felipe Laser, he stresses that it was “really a group effort”.
“I don’t feel like I was in any way the standout driver of that group,” says Catsburg, whose main programme in 2024 will be in the IMSA Sportscar Championship’s GTD Pro class. “I wouldn’t say that it was like a super-duper personal performance.”
Here’s how he looks back on 2023.
Photo by: Marc Fleury
Not many drivers can claim to win three 24-hour races in the same year
Autosport: Was this your best year in racing?
Nicky Catsburg: Yeah, I would say so. It’s difficult to say no! In the end a lot of it is opportunity and then taking opportunity and luck. And of course you have to take those opportunities. But looking at it like that, it has been my best season.
I’ve won all these crazy races, big events and it’s just something I’m incredibly proud of. But I don’t want to fool myself and think that I’ve seen the light all of a sudden this year. It’s just a year where things have come together and it’s a year where there has been pretty much zero mistakes and that always helps.
“A very nice moment for us was to bring our Corvette into Hyperpole after our car was kind of destroyed in one of the practices” Nicky Catsburg
AS: You’ve been part of good teams which always helps, but looking at your own personal performances some have elevated good results to great ones. Which stand out to you?
NC: I absolutely loved the ones in WEC where we really had to fight for either a P2 or a P1. Spa and Portimao, we had to fight so hard. I thought ‘this is going to be impossible to keep them behind’ but it was possible. Those races – in terms of emotions when crossing the finish line – are almost better than a win at a 24-hour race. It sounds so strange, but it’s like a little personal victory.
A very nice moment for us was to bring our Corvette into Hyperpole after our car was kind of destroyed in one of the practices, the guys had to work, work, work to get it together for quali and after quali we realised that it was completely out of whack. That was a very tough lap in order to go to the Hyperpole and that was a super-cool feeling as well.
Spa I was personally very proud to be right there with Marciello and Jules [Gounon] when it came to Mercedes drivers’ performance in terms of averages. That’s something that I wasn’t expecting to happen.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Catsburg showed why he’s one of the highest rated sportscar drivers in the world right now