Dusan Borkovic camp says he was provoked in Monza fight

Dusan Borkovic was investigated and later disqualified from the Monza event of the TCR Europe series at the weekend as a consequence of a fight with title rival Mikel Azcona’s entourage, which involved the Serbian hitting the Spaniard’s uncle.

Although Borkovic himself was not available for comment as he’d left the track soon after the altercation, his wife and manager Andrijana was with him at the time of the incident and explained their view of events in a statement to TouringCarTimes.

“After the race ended Dusan went to (Benjamin) Lessennes’ tent to have a talk about how he hit Dusan during the race,” said Andrijana Borkovic to TouringCarTimes. “They had the talk in his truck, I was outside with Comini and some other people from THX. Opposite to them was Azcona’s team and he and some 20-30 people were standing outside the tent and looking in our direction, listening in.”

After the discussion with the Belgian, Azcona then approached the Serbian to discuss a separate incident, which triggered a verbal fight that degenerated into an assault.

“Azcona yelled at Dusan to say something, Dusan stopped and gave him a hand to say hi and congratulate him for being back at the top and we started to leave again. At that moment Azcona started to be verbally aggressive and accused Dusan that he hit him during the race…when Dusan realised Azcona was being unreasonable, he didn’t want to hear it and started to leave.

“At that moment somebody from Azcona’s crowd yelled at Dusan, and when Dusan told him “what is your problem? I’m not talking to you” that person (they say is Azcona’s uncle) pushed Dusan with both hands; he even swung a full backpack at Dusan.”

Andrijana Borkovic claims her husband was defending from what was going on around him, which is not to be seen in any video footage as only the final part of the argument was published.

“What you saw in the video is Dusan defending himself against those attacks. If you look closely in the video, you can see Dusan standing alone and this guy being held by his many men, which indicates that he attacked Dusan and his people held him to stop him. Later when Dusan swung, people took him away and that is it. The video is just the very end.”

Andrijana Borkovic also claims she was pushed and insulted, which is even more serious as she is also seven months’ pregnant. She was defended by WTCR driver Pepe Oriola’s father, who was present with his son as the team coach at Azcona’s team.

“At the same time, members of Azcona’s team were pulling on my dress and telling me in spanish (which I understand that much) all kind of curse word and even pushing my shoulder to make me go away. I was only theee because we had a talk with Lessennes and his team and were passing by, after which I got caught in the crowd of Azcona’s people and was just focussed on protecting my baby. I want to thank Pepe Oriola Sr. for pushing that bully from Azcona’s team at the very end of it all.”

Andrijana Borkovic also says the case should not have been judged by the stewards, but rather by the police, who had intervened and questioned the Serbian and several other witnesses of the event before clearing everyone.

She also claims the video has been artificially cut short to avoid showing what had happened earlier, and people should quit “acting like moralists” as Borkovic’s motive was protecting himself and his family.

“I know that the championship is at stake for Azcona, but this is the dirtiest way to win it,” she concluded.

The incident has been referred to the Portuguese ASN as TCR Europe series’ partner ASN, with Borkovic possibly facing further action.

Borkovic plans to release a formal statement tomorrow.