Photo: ETCC Media

Dusan Borkovic says he’s hampered by “two-tier” weight handicap

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B3 Racing’s Dusan Borkovic was caught up in contact in race one which ruined his chances of winning the first race, which he puts down to the same issue he experience in the Hungaroring, where the weight of his car is heavier due to his own frame than his lighter competitors.

Borkovic had qualified third after only setting one lap in qualifying after a puncture which had damaged the front-left suspension on his SEAT León Cup Racer.

For race one, with the European Touring Car Cup still employing a rolling start for the first race, he found himself out-accelerated by the lighter SEATs around him and sustained damage to the front-right splitter, which meant he lacked pace throughout the rest of the race and finished the race third in class behind Petr Fulín and Mat’o Homola.

“I noticed I didn’t have the front downforce on my car, and I didn’t want to destroy the tyres so I was careful just to get to the finish,” he said to TouringCarTimes.

“For the second race we fixed it with duct tape and I had now had the downforce and just did what I should have did in the first race. I was sixth at the start of race two, and after the start I was third before the safety car, then after that I overtook some cars and made a gap and then just looked after the tyres, so it wasn’t so difficult in that race.”

Success ballast is applied in the ETCC based on championship points, which meant after a strong first weekend in Hungary, the Serbian was carrying 38kg of ballast on his car, with only Ferenc FIcza carrying more as he’s a race-by-race entry of 50kg, while Petr Fulín carried 26kg and Mat’o Homola 5kg this weekend.

“It was always going to be difficult at the rolling start as everyone overtook me on the straight as they’re much lighter than me,” explained Borkovic. “I have ballast (for leading the championship), but on top of that I also have my weight. Compared to Mat’o Homola, I’m for sure 25kg more than him as he’s a very little guy. 60kg in these cars is about one second and you’re going through your tyres more quickly. I don’t know what we’ll do until the end of the season, but it’s not a nice feeling when you’re so slow on the straights.”