Jimmy Clairet says Borkovic clash was “a racing incident”

Jimmy Clairet said there was nothing more he could have done to avoid hitting Dusan Borkovic in Race 2 at Spa-Francorchamps, for which the Frenchman was penalised by the stewards.

The Team Clairet Sport Peugeot 308TCR driver was handed a 30-second penalty for his part in the contact which sent Borkovic spinning out of the lead at Les Combes.

Borkovic had earlier defended the lead from Clairet at La Source, with the pair touching slightly on entry.

But Clairet believes the contact was a result of a racing incident.

“They said that I was responsible for the clash with Borkovic, but for me it was more 50-50,” Clairet told TouringCarTimes.

“I braked later than him, I saw that he was moving closer to the edge of the track and he braked really hard and pushed to the limit of the track as we entered Les Combes.

“At that moment, we touched and he went off. I’m sorry for the incident but for me I see it as a racing incident.”

“I couldn’t do anything more, you can see that on the onboard camera. So I’m a little bit disappointed about that.

Despite losing his runner-up spot, Clairet left Spa confident that he and his team have turned a corner after putting in their best performance of the season so far.

He added: “It was a great race and I had some good battles. It’s not a missed opportunity because the pace was really good all weekend. We performed well against the other Peugeots, which is all we can compare ourselves with.

“We’ve progressed quite well, and we still finished Race 2 in second place so we are happy with the speed of the car and the performance from this weekend.”