The participation of Dušan Borković in the remainder of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) season is currently uncertain, after the Serbian sat out Sunday’s races in Marrakech due to technical and personal reasons.
Borković had originally taken part in practice and qualifying, qualifying his Honda Civic in 14th on Saturday, before opting to withdraw from Sunday’s races. Borković explained that this was both due to the seating position of his car, which continues to be cramped for the 6 ft 9 (2.07 m) racer, and for personal reasons, as he had recent lost his father.
The seating position continues to be an issue for Borković, who improved things by moving the steering column and the seat backwards. However he continued to suffer from circulation in his legs being cut off, with things exacerbated by the bumpy nature of the Circuit Moulay El Hassan.
“I really like his track – last year with no experience of the track or the car I got through to Q3, and now I pushed even more and no result,” said a downbeat Borković. “You could see that I was fighting hard and that I drove on the very limit in free practices and qualifying.”
Borković additionally pointed to the specification of components on his Honda Civic car, which he believes were not up to scratch for the demanding street circuit.
“The brakes and dampers especially didn’t seem ready for this race. And when you add my sitting position to this it is not a good combination especially for this track.
“Also, it may have been a wrong decision to compete in Morocco so soon after my father’s death. I wanted to continue for him but I am not 100% focused and it is really hard for me to deal with these ridiculous issues at this moment.
“The non-functional car in this state was not safe for me to drive, I didn’t want to cause problems for myself or other drivers.”
Borković and his management at the NIS Petrol Racing Team have yet to make a decision on whether to continue for the rest of the season.