Photo: TCR Europe

Borković discusses challenge of being Target’s sole TCR Europe driver

Dušan Borković says being Target Competition’s only driver in TCR Europe this season is proving to be difficult.

Last year Target ran two Hyundai Elantra N TCRs full-time and had a third car that did all but one round. Between its three drivers there were six podium finishes, and Target finished second in the teams’ standings.

Those three drivers have now all moved on, two of them to rival teams in the series, and Borković was surprised to find out on his return to the team he raced for in 2018 and ‘19 that he would be its only driver.

TouringCarTimes asked Borković about the challenge of being a solo entry at last weekend’s Pau round, where he was the only Hyundai driver in the field and impressed to win Race 1 from second on the grid and then come from eighth on the reversed grid to finish second in Race 2.

“It’s really difficult since the beginning,” he said. “When I heard that I don’t have a team-mate, I realised I don’t have anybody who I can compare with.

“Even if you have a slower driver, in some corners he is faster or something, and you can improve by a tenth of a second or two. But I was completely alone. To be honest this weekend I didn’t even look at the data because from the first practice it was the rain and second practice was dry, and I didn’t even know what to look at.

“And in qualifying I didn’t know how much I can push because I didn’t have any data from the last two years [of this car or circuit], so I was doing it all by myself and the team also, and we did it all by ourselves. And it looks like we did a good job.”

Knowing how the Elantra treats its tyres over the distance of a safety car-free race is something Borković is still seeking to understand and improve on, and the difference over a stint with how the car handles when leading a race compared to when it’s in the pack.

The Pau weekend was not a great example due to the French street circuit not only being new to much of the paddock but also being very different to the rest of the tracks on the calendar.

Round three of the TCR Europe season takes place this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, and Borković currently sits third in the standings.