Photo: WTCC Media

Dusan Borkovic withdraws from the 2015 WTCC season

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Serbian driver Dusan Borkovic will not take part in the remainder of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship season, following a argument with Proteam Racing over modifications that have not been able to cater for the 30-year-old’s height, as well as further dissatisfaction over the specification of the team’s Honda Civic WTCC.

Borkovic switched from Campos Racing, driving a modified Chevrolet RML Cruze last year, to the smaller Honda Civic which was used by Mehdi Bennani last season for 2015 at Proteam Racing.

The Serbian, who stands at 6ft9, struggled during the first race weekend in Argentina while modifications continued to be made to the Civic to accommodate him, but he still suffered with discomfort throughout the weekend, finishing 11th in race one but stopped in race two.

In Morocco, fighting with the handling as well as his position in the car, he qualified in 14th position, with his team and sponsors making the decision to withdraw from the race a few hours before the start, and now have confirmed they will not take part in the remainder of the season to TouringCarTimes.

Borkovic’s management team stated that changes made to the car have not been adequate, given the amount of time the Italian team has had to work on the issue, and a new concern was raised over the weekend over the specification of the car, which they say is not to the same standard as the cars used by JAS Motorsport, Zengő Motorsport and Nika Racing.

Team principal Valmiro Presenzini responded to the accusations, saying the team are free to choose their own dampers and these were used without issue by their driver Mehdi Bennani last year. He also said and also that they have made as much effort as they could to try and cater for the driver’s height and his discomfort in the car, which included installing a larger seat at Marrakech and getting a waiver from the FIA to move his seat position back, as RML had done last year when he drove for Campos Racing in the Chevrolet.

Borkovic’s manager Andrijana Borkovic has now stated that they believe that JAS Motorsport has a newer specification of damper available for the Honda customer teams, but that Proteam wouldn’t engage with them on the matter. However, their main concern is over the physical injuries that Dusan Borkovic is incurring from continually driving in discomfort, and that they and their sponsors have now decided to withdraw from the championship and will work on a new programme instead.