Photo: TCR Media

Dusan Borkovic blasts Jean-Karl Vernay for “unsportsmanlike” behaviour

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Serbia’s Dusan Borkovic has left the Imola weekend of the TCR International Series devoid of points and slips to tenth in the championship standings, after a technical failure in free practice put him on the back foot, then with his lap times from qualifying deleted, and finally an incident with Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay in Race 1 ended his weekend there and then, in a move which the B3 Racing SEAT driver called “unsportsmanlike.”

“I am really disappointed with what happened in qualifying,” said Borkovic to TouringCarTimes. “I had no running in free practice and I didn’t know the track, so I was forced to learn it in qualifying. I was able to make it to Q2 and then I exceeded track limits once by a couple of inches, no more than that, and you can’t really see it from inside the car,” said the Serbian.

“I did three laps which were good enough for fifth, so I decided to back off and go back to the pits as I didn’t want to kill my tyres. I just stayed in the car for two or three minutes, doing nothing, and then with a few seconds to go they said my lap times were deleted, and I had no time to do any more laps.

“After that the problems began, because had I been able to start from fifth, which was where I belonged, the accident with Jean-Karl Vernay wouldn’t have happened.”

The incident with Vernay in Race 1, which eliminated Borkovic from the race, was deemed as the fault of the Frenchman by the stewards, and the Leopard Racing VW driver picked up his second driving penalty in as many race weekends.

“Vernay acted very unsportsmanlike throughout the whole Race 1 and was cutting in every corner which enabled him to catch up with me faster,” said Borkovic. “At the end he hit me a few times until he spun me out of the track completely although there was enough space for him to move and fight fair.

“I am very disappointed that I didn’t score new points this weekend. I am constantly in top five fastest drivers in the championship, and now we have to focus and fight through all other challenges to get up the score board.”

Borkovic failed to start in the second race due to a power steering issue, as the Serbian’s SEAT was deemed to be unsafe by the team, amid fears that the steering rack would lock in the middle of a corner.