The 'weapon' clash that turned a world title battle bitter

Nicky Catsburg walks into a Nagoya Airport hotel bar. No, it's not a tortured set-up for a joke; quite the opposite. The tension was palpable as the BRC Racing driver walked past Cyan Racing CEO Christian Dahl last Sunday evening and tentatively offered a courtesy nod, which was reciprocated with a cursory one back from his former employer.

A day earlier, Catsburg found himself in hot water after tagging Cyan driver Andy Priaulx out of 13th place in the Suzuka World Touring Car Cup opener, not long after being allowed through to attack Priaulx by his BRC Racing Hyundai team-mate and title hopeful Norbert Michelisz.

A furious Priaulx waited until the field came back past the first corner, this time under the safety car, and stood on the edge of the gravel trap to gesticulate at Michelisz's car - now ahead of Catsburg's again - a misdemeanour that earned the three-time World Touring Car champion a €1000 fine.

Go figure, some might say, but was it that clear cut?

One person in no doubt was Priaulx.

"That was the most unsporting thing I've ever seen in my life. He was using his car as a weapon of intent, that is super-dangerous," he said - and that was in Cyan's post-race media release, not a heat-of-the-moment rant.

"As a factory driver you shouldn't be doing that kind of thing as an example for all the young drivers coming through. If I had killed a marshal, hurt myself or hit Yann [Ehrlacher] side on, who knows what that kind of driving behaviour could have caused. I think that should be immediate exclusion for the rest of the season."

Priaulx was less specific in conversation with Autosport, saying only that Catsburg should receive "the harshest of penalties", but he retained his stance. He wasn't alone, either; Priaulx's team-mate Thed Bjork said "it's not how it's supposed to be", while one driver of a more impartial position said a ban was appropriate, also likening Catsburg to a weapon.

A 30-second penalty from the stewards shows Catsburg was deemed to be at fault but, for his part, he protested his innocence - both at the time, and post-weekend in a statement issued to Autosport, in which he questioned what he described as an "immediate and polished" Cyan response. Cyan duly replied to Autosport's tweet of that story by saying, "It's not difficult to have something prepared in response to a Hyundai driver hitting someone".

Michelisz - the man with a direct view of the incident, and who it benefited the most - said he did not want to "get involved too much" by commenting before adding: "Nicky did nothing wrong. That's my view."

But BRC did get involved, with team principal Gabriele Rizzo hitting out at series promoter Eurosport Events for its 'story of the day' social media clip of the incident on Saturday - which was effectively the same as Cyan's, though with Catsburg's response added.

It's no wild leap to say Cyan and BRC have two of the best prepared cars on the grid and are the closest-linked customer racing squads to the manufacturers they represent

"I have to say we find the conduct of another team which is pretty much a manufacturer one in this championship unacceptable in the way they are discussing on-track incidents after the event," he said.

"We respect the decision of the stewards and believe no further comment was necessary. We are disappointed that the promoter further amplified this incident on its platforms in favour of one manufacturer. There needs to be balance and fairness in what is presented to the media and to our fans, and this weekend this was lost."

You can make your own mind up on who was at fault. What we can say is Priaulx was within his rights to defend his position and, as the following car, Catsburg had a duty to react. As he said, perhaps could have "anticipated in a better way". But also bear in mind that the gap Catsburg appeared to be going for was not fully closed off before Priaulx braked, and that the car ahead of the clash - that of Priaulx's team-mate Yann Ehrlacher, who was on the normal racing line - was still yet to hit the brakes when the two cars made contact.

Rather than getting bogged down in who was right and who was wrong (after all, the stewards handed out their verdict last Saturday evening), let's consider the wider point of the rivalry between the two teams and what this latest - and biggest - flashpoint means for the remainder of the 2019 season.

These are two squads that have been at odds for much of the year. It's no wild leap to say that, in the Lynk & Co 03 and Hyundai i30 N, Cyan and BRC have two of the best prepared cars on the grid and are the closest-linked customer racing squads to the manufacturers they represent.

At Zandvoort in May, Catsburg was told to "focus on your set-up and shut up" by four-time world champion Yvan Muller after the pre-weekend Balance of Performance boost the Lynk & Co had been handed, and TCR's decision to reverse it for the first race when Cyan completed a 1-2-3-4 qualifying lockout, was tabled for comment during the race-one press conference.

The unprecedented step TCR's technical department took in reverting to its previous BoP, after a crisis meeting between all outfits but Cyan (which team manager Fredrik Wahlen said "received an invitation 15 minutes before the teams' meeting" but could not be represented as its "team managers were engaged in post-qualifying scrutineering"), was prompted by two points rival teams raised about the Lynk & Co cars.

One was simply about the BoP itself - how it had offered the Lynk & Cos too big a leap in performance - but that also paved the way for the wider concern about what more than one rival team labelled Cyan's 'prototype machinery' - a car based on a model that at the time had not been released in any market, and that had not been made available to any other customers - to be aired.

This, of course, was fundamentally out of Cyan's hands. Sure, its ties to Geely as the squad that ran Volvo's World Touring Car Championship-winning operation are well-established, but it was in no position to tell the group to speed up the production of its road cars (regardless of whether it might have wanted to).

But it didn't stop Hyundai stating it could withdraw its WTCR presence. Andrea Adamo, the brand's customer racing boss (a role he juggles with heading up Hyundai's World Rally team) expressed concerns about limits - or a lack thereof - on manufacturer involvement and the need to "work in a very close stable, and let no one slip through the door" as early as last November.

He was more direct earlier this year, when he told TouringCarTimes: "Lynk & Co are doing a good job, but I want to understand what the FIA, Eurosport and WSC's plan for TCR and WTCR in the future. Once we know what's going on, then we can decide to adapt or not. If we like it, OK, if we don't like it, we can step out.

"I think everyone can see Lynk & Co is a full manufacturer programme. I don't need to comment, as the facts are there."

Back on track, things flared up at Ningbo last month when Priaulx and Michelisz collided while they scrapped for the lead of the reversed-grid race. Priaulx suffered a suspected puncture and got on the brakes early, leaving Michelisz little place else to go than the back of the Lynk & Co - but it was certainly a different incident to last weekend's one, and Priaulx said afterwards "I spoke to Norbi [Michelisz] and don't expect any more problems".

Even so, there was an underlying theme to Cyan's pre-Suzuka press release, as the team stated it was "confident that the WTCR organisation will keep order after an incident-packed race weekend in China last month".

This year should absolutely go down as the best for World Touring Cars since Chevrolet's intra-team fight for supremacy. Is it really such a bad thing if the series, or its teams, jump on the publicity that offers?

It's little surprise then that the events of the Suzuka weekend have heightened that rivalry. Whether it's Thed Bjork's direct citation of the i30 N's straightline speed making Cyan's situation feel "hopeless", or Rizzo's less direct but equally indiscreet reference to "another team which is pretty much a manufacturer", both teams now appear fully invested in the narrative.

It's great for WTCR that such a scrap has emerged - though one problem is trying to work out which drivers are at odds with each other. On a more serious note, the danger for both squads is they become so distracted by this point-scoring that they ultimately miss out on the thing they're squabbling over.

While the fallout from the Priaulx/Catsburg clash was reaching fever pitch, Esteban Guerrieri was off celebrating a third victory of the season, a result that moved the Munnich Motorsport Honda driver back into the points lead at Michelisz's expense. Ironic, too, given that Guerrieri probably ended up with too much to do in last year's title race after becoming embroiled in a scrap with Muller at Suzuka.

Six points is hardly an insurmountable gap for Hyundai's hope Michelisz to recover over six races, and he fundamentally appears to at least be at an advantage over Cyan's contenders Muller and Bjork, who are in the same 'sub-team', as he has three team-mates to protect or advance him as appropriate.

But it only takes another weekend like Suzuka, where Guerrieri recovered from a no-score at the previous round to score more points than any other driver and return to the summit, for the former Formula Renault 3.5 and Indy Lights frontrunner to build a healthy lead while his closest rivals trip over each other and effectively have the title sewed up.

The tried and tested psychological trick of taunting someone to provoke a reaction is all well and good, but when both sides are at it they can end up doing more than simply cancelling each other out. All's fair in love and war you might say, though.

From an enthusiast's point of view and from an entertainment perspective, this is everything WTCR's stakeholders could ask for. Given Citroen's domination of the TC1 era, and the damp squib of a final WTCC season before it was succeeded by WTCR, this year should absolutely go down as the best for World Touring Cars at least since Chevrolet's intra-team dogfight for supremacy, if not the late 2000s of proper multi-manufacturer competition. Is it really such a bad thing if the series, or indeed the teams, jump on the publicity that offers?

So let's hope tensions stay high, and that both Cyan's and BRC's drivers remain in title contention until the season finale in Malaysia next month. Let's also hope, though, that the longer-term plan for WTCR is enough to keep everyone onside.

The BoP card is one BRC loves to play - its press release after the 2019 season opener ran with the subject line 'Disappointing Race of Morocco for BRC Racing Team amid Balance of Performance struggles' despite Gabriele Tarquini winning the second race - but Adamo has done enough since he started heading up Hyundai's WRC effort earlier this year to prove his words are not to be underestimated.

The exit of a major player? That wouldn't be very funny, either...