Dušan Borković was one of the heroes of the WTCC Race of Japan.
The Campos Racing driver made also history: by taking second position in Race 2, he became the first Serbian to claim a podium finish in an FIA World Championship race.
The achievement was duly celebrated in Serbia and Borković was welcomed by a large crowd of friends, media and fans at Belgrade airport upon his return from Japan.
“I was really surprised with such a welcome,” he admitted, still dizzy from the 20-hour flight. “I would like to thank everybody for the support I got throughout the whole season, especially when it was not going well. Thank you for believing, I believed as well. I waited for this result and I knew it would come eventually. And I am glad that it happened on one of the best and most challenging circuits in the world.”
Borković, who still suffered from the hand injured in Beijing’s accident, didn’t hide his emotions at Suzuka after the race, and was one of the stars of the post-race press conference.
“Hit me, please, I need to be sure what’s happening is true!” he told the press. “I’m so happy with this result… This podium came almost at the end of my first season in which I made some mistakes because I tried to overdo. This time I tried to push less. I had a good qualifying and everything went well at the start of Race 2. I let Gabriele Tarquini go, and when I saw that everything was ok, I pushed a little bit more to secure this great result.”