Driver-turned-team manager Pepe Oriola was delighted after a sensational Macau finale of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour, when the newly-formed GOAT Racing squad secured an unprecedented 1-2-3 finish with Dušan Borkovič leading a Honda trio ahead of teammates Esteban Guerrieri and Marco Butti.
It was Borković’s first race victory on the world stage, and the result also showcased Oriola’s run of intelligent decision making in recent races, with the “tyre whisperer” having successfully called the right tyre strategy in races at Zhuzhou, where Butti excelled after a mid-race switch to wet tyres, and also the FIA Motorsport Games, which Butti also won on the road, but later lost out due to a technical transgression.
Oriola made the inspired call to start all three cars on four slicks, despite the heavy rain that had been falling all morning at Macau, and the call soon proved to be the right one, with all of the team’s drivers cruising to the fore, claiming the first podium lockout for the JAS Motorsport-built Civic Type R FL5.
“I knew it was definitely slicks for the front, but the doubt was whether it was slicks on the rear as well,”explained Oriola. “We made a bet. With Esteban and Marco it was pretty clear, it was a bit harder to make the call with Dušan as he was starting on the second row - but we went with four slicks for all and it paid off. OK, we didn’t win the championship this year, but if we had won it and then finished 1-2-3 on Sunday, I could probably already retire - life doesn’t give you everything in one go.”
“I’m also really happy for Dušan. We sacrificed third in the championship with Esteban, because if we’d asked Dušan to let Esteban past, Esteban would have been third, but this team works together, and Esteban’s life isn’t going to change if he finishes P3 in the championship, whereas the win for Dušan mattered more.”
GOAT Racing was the leading team to be fully self-funded, with no manufacturer-placed drivers in the team, which Oriola said made the Catalon squad’s achievement this year, going to the finale in genuine contention for the title all the more significant.
“I’m so proud of the team for the whole year. You could see at Macau we were tight on spares, we had to rebuild two cars in two nights, so it’s a really nice end the year by finishing 1-2-3 in the Guia race.”
“The goal for next year is to get some support from Honda. We’ve proved we could fight with Hyundai and Lynk & Co, but we have issues in terms of budget. The other teams have a whole two extra cars here just in terms of spare parts, so if we want to compete directly with them, we need Honda support. If we had that, we’d be fighting on a one-on-one basis, whereas right now we’re the unexpected winners.”
Picture: Duda Bairros
