Dušan Borković was delighted with his performance in TCR Europe on the streets of Pau, with the Target Competition driver bagging a win and second to ignite his championship challenge.
The Serbian racer put his Hyundai in second on the grid in Saturday’s qualifying session, and when pole-sitter Viktor Andersson suffered from a driveshaft failure, it left Borković leading the way.
The 38-year-old was never headed in the race and scored his first TCR Europe win since 2018 in the process.
“It was a long period of time without winning, especially winning race one because it’s special for every driver as it’s not so satisfying if you finish P1 in race two,” said Borković after race one.
“I did a good job at the start as I knew putting the tyres in the right position was important. This was only the third time that I’d started in the Hyundai Elantra, as I never tried a practice start in the free practice sessions and in Portimão I was getting used to the Elantra, so luckily it went really well.
“P1 is really important for me and for the team, who did a great job. We didn’t do any testing and I don’t have a teammate to work out where you are faster and where you are losing.
“Here, one or two tenths are really important. [Kobe] Pauwels did a really good job with the ballast and he was really fast.”
For race two, Borković started from eighth on the reversed grid. He was quickly up to fourth at the first corner, having earlier survived a close brush with the wall when Pauwels almost came over on him on the line.
Then, Borković passed John Filippi and benefitted from a mistake from Viktor Davidovski to take second, but ultimately not pushing eventual winner Tom Coronel too hard for the victory.
“I said [on Saturday] that I would be happy with a podium finish [in race two] but honestly, I thought it would be impossible. Miracles do happen!
“I had a really good start and I put my nose into the rear of Pauwels’ car and he was trying to push me; I was heading for a wall but he moved.
“After that I overtook him and then I had a little touch from someone, but I was able to keep going and then again put my nose into Filippi in a slightly risky move and we were touching a little bit and I overtook him.
“I could see that in the first and second sectors where there are a lot of corners we were very good but in the last sector Coronel was pulling away. He drove a fantastic race with no mistakes and I didn’t want to risk my points.
“I’m super-happy with the race and I would like more of these races! I enjoyed all the corners but I didn’t like the straights today because the Audi was more powerful.”
Borković has moved up to third overall in the drivers’ standings, 29 points behind series leader Coronel.