Dusan Borkovic cautiously optimistic after “first real session” in Macau

Dusan Borkovic came sixth in today’s free practice at Macau. The B3 Racing driver reckons yesterday’s session was ruined by slower drivers, but he is happy with today’s performance, which he considers to be his first proper session in Macau.

“I agree with Stefano Comini, some drivers just seem to be looking for a parking space,” said Dusan Borkovic to TouringCarTimes. “This was my first actual session, as yesterday I didn’t have a single clean corner, so I consider this as my first session in Macau, and it was not bad at all.”

As for his goals for the weekend, the Serbian’s focus is on bringing the car home in one piece: “I just want to finish the race, because I struggled a lot in the first part of the season. I started driving with my brain rather than my heart, and I do realise this was the best thing I could do. Honestly I don’t care where I finish, as long as I get to seeing the chequered flag and bring home the car in one piece.”

As Borkovic is out of the fight for the title, he will try to enjoy himself and get on top of all the special challenges of the Circuito da Guia: “I know I had the speed this year, I wasn’t slow at all. The problem was the accidents, and it cost me the chance to fight for the title. To me, Macau is just about enjoying driving and avoiding getting in the way of the guys who are fighting for the championship. Despite this, I will give it my best. I know it was not the best lap I could do, because this was my first true lap at the Circuito da Guia. It was not a fast lap, it was just a normal one. I think I can get through to Q2 quite easily, and then go from there.”

When reminded of the chance of rain, the B3 Racing driver said it would be even more difficult and he would therefore be even more cautious: “If it rains I will stop the car!”, joked the Serbian. “Seriously, this is going to be really difficult if it rains. I will be very cautious and allow myself a lot of margin, because the walls are so close here. What I am concerned about is that the slower drivers already crash in the dry, so I can’t imagine what would happen if it rained. I don’t think anyone will know exactly what to do, where to find the grip and so on. It will be tough, every corner is a potential risk of a crash.”

Borkovic is aware that Macau is a special track, and this will make qualifying even more difficult than usual, although the Serbian trusts he has the speed to overcome the problems: “We did use new tyres, but I saw that many drivers did their best times towards the end of the session. It probably means that the track needs some rubber before it performs to the maximum, so perhaps we should have used new tyres later in the session. It’s good to know for qualifying, but it will still be tricky. On a normal lap you set a time and then you try to push harder to see if there’s more grip, but in Macau you never know how much grip you have and where it is, so it’s much more difficult. If you push too much you can crash, if you don’t push enough then you may not get a second chance as you can find traffic. I’m usually good in qualifying, so let’s see what happens. I think I have the speed, but it could be a mess tomorrow.”

Despite two pole positions, Borkovic hasn’t won a race this season so far.