Dušan Borković says he is aiming to be ‘more calm’ during the 2017 TCR International Series season, after a series of crashes and misfortune blighted his début season last year.
Borković proved during 2016 that he has the pace to win, taking six podiums and also an outright pole position at Spa-Francorchamps whilst racing a SEAT León.
In the end, Borković finished the year seventh overall in the drivers’ championship standings. Now, in addition to his mindset, Borković also has to contend with a switch from SEAT machinery to Alfa Romeo at the Mulsanne Racing-run GE-Force team.
The Serbian racer admitted to TouringCars.Net that he needs to learn to calm down in the coming season in order to maximise his potential.
“Every race in the SEAT I knew that I could fight for the top five in qualifying, or the top three,” said Borković. “It was always the case that I was really fast. This year I want to be more calm than last year and to score more points.
“When I calculated how many points I could have [theoretically] got last year, I could have been in the top three easily, but I was a little stressed with too much temperament, and I always wanted to get some crazy good results and I didn’t score so many points.
“This year I want to change that. I see the potential in the Alfa quite well. I want to see how everything works and to calm down, because last year the first race was in Bahrain, and I was P2 in qualifying. I had a terrible start, and I was P10 [by the end of the lap].
“It went quite well in the end but I had a lot of crashes, I destroyed the car and it was not so good, so I want to start the year differently with everything know!”
Borković also praised his new team for their helpfulness, even though the car currently suffers from a lack of power compared to some of the other cars on the grid.
“The positive thing is that I’m surrounded by good guys and good people. The combination of the Georgian people and Romeo Ferraris, who are all so kind, will help me and they will give their maximum to help me.
“The is more like a racing car, but it is more difficult to drive. I have to find some solutions and we have some issues to solve, but during the season I think we will solve them.
“The Alfa has a lack of litres; it is 1.75 litres and it has a slightly smaller engine, so the torque is not like in the other cars. The people at Romeo Ferraris are doing everything in their power to solve that problem, because out of the corner they are much stronger and much smoother.
“The potential of the Alfa is there. In some areas it is strong, but in some it is weaker, so we have to see which circuits where it will be [stronger]. We have to work to understand the car completely.”