Photo: ETCC Media

Dusan Borkovic targeting WTCC return after 2015 ETCC

By

Serbia’s Dusan Borkovic admits his ETCC campaign is hopefully a stopgap measure after the dramas he faced at the start of the 2015 WTCC season. Borkovic started his ETCC season as strongly as possible after claiming pole position for the opening round at the Hungaroring with B3 Racing.

Borkovic withdrew from the WTCC two weeks ago mid-race weekend in Marrakech, unhappy with Proteam Racing and their efforts to resolve issues with the Honda Civic WTCC to suit his height problem.

In his first weekend driving the SEAT León Cup Racer, Borkovic set the fastest time in free practice and went on to take pole position ahead of Petr Fulín and Andreas Pfister, and says he feels much happier now in the car and with himself following the change.

“It’s really nice when you’re at the top,” said Borkovic to TouringCarTimes. “Even though this is ETCC, there are a lot of good drivers here and I didn’t know the car very well, I still don’t. We still have more time to find to get the car to suit my style of driving.

“I was expecting to lose a lot of time, especially to guys like Ferenc Ficza, who was at the same level as a lot of the other ex-WTCC drivers in the TCR race in Sepang, but I had a really good time. I was a little upset with some of the slower drivers for not looking in their mirrors, but I understand they are also on their fast laps too.”

Reflecting back on the first two WTCC races of the season with Proteam, which saw the 30-year-old abort his programme prematurely and make the switch to the ETCC, he remarked:

“I felt like I was hitting my head against a wall for the last two months in WTCC. My life was literally in danger. When you are driving and you can’t feel your leg, it is dangerous for me and for the others. When you are in a World Championship and you are always hitting your head against the wall, you need to take a step back and find another way.”

On his aspirations for this year, and whether the only goal now is to win the ETCC’s Single-Make Trophy, Borkovic added:

“We only have six races, so we will see; you can have one crash and then lose the Cup, it’s a very short and technical series,” he said. “But I know that I belong in WTCC. I showed that a lot of times last year, and now I have a lot more experience.”