Borkovič doubles-up in TCR Eastern Europe at Grobnik

Dušan Borkovič followed up on his Race 1 victory and completed a perfect opening weekend in the TCR Eastern Europe series at the Grobnik circuit in Croatia, leading the second race from lights-to-flag in his M1RA Motorsport Hyundai i30 N.
The 35-year-old made a perfect getaway from pole position, while the ARC Bratislava-run Hyundai of Mat’o Konopka again had a slow launch, which allowed the ASK Vesnić CUPRA of Milovan Vesnić through into second place for the second race in succession.
The Zengő Motorsport CUPRA of Bence Boldizs also had a bad start from fourth on the grid, and lost two positions to the GT2 Motorsport Volkswagen of Jáchym Galaš and the Hyundai of Igor Stefanovski.
At Turn 5, the GM Racing Team CUPRA of Nemanja Milovanović lost control and span around in the midfield and was only just avoided by the pursuing Zengő CUPRA of Gábor Kizmarty-Lechner.
Meanwhile, up front, Borkovič was already starting to pull away from Vesnić and Konopka.
The first casualty of the race was the Hyundai i30 N of Szymon Jabłoński, with the Polish driver again having a terrible race, pulling into the pit lane with a puncture, rejoining two laps down, but eventually calling it a day just a few minutes later. The second retirement of the race was the CUPRA Leon Competición of Petr Čížek, who pitted on lap six with a technical issue while running in eighth.
The only major fight left in the top ten involved the recovering Zengõ CUPRA of Boldizs, and the Hyundai of Stefanovski. On lap ten, Boldizs mounted an attack at Turn 15, but Stefanovski held the line into Turn 1 at the start of the following lap. Boldizs was able to complete the move just a few corners later, passing the Macedonian down the inside at the Turn 5 hairpin and claiming fifth. Boldizs then set about closing down the Volkswagen of Galaš, but eventually ran out of time, just catching up to the Czech driver on the final lap, crossing the line a tenth of a second adrift.
Up front, no one had anything for Borkovic, with the Serbian winning the race by 12 seconds over countryman Vesnić, with Konopka completing the top three, replicating the same podium result as Race 1.
Borkovič’s results today means he leaves the first round of the TCR Eastern Europe series with a 14-point lead over reigning champion Vesnić, as the series heads to the Slovakiaring next month for its second event on 22nd-23rd August.

Race 2 result
1. Dušan Borkovič (M1RA Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 17 laps
2. Milovan Vesnić (ASK Vesnić, CUPRA), 11.987
3. Mat’o Konopka (ARC Bratislava, Hyundai i30 N), 12.698
4. Jáchym Galáš (GT2 Motorsport, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 19.112
5. Bence Boldizs (Zengő Motorsport CUPRA), 19.246

Championship points
1. Dušan Borkovič 50 pts; 2. Milovan Vesnić 36; 3. Mat’o Konopka 30

Picture: TCR Eastern Europe