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Milovan Vesnić will defend his championship crown in the upcoming TCR Eastern Europe season. However, the Serbian driver knows that it won’t be easy. He reveals his expectations and even more in our interview.
Milovan, how are you looking forward to the 2020 season?
I can’t wait for it to begin. To be on the track again, meet all the friends from TCR Eastern Europe and race them again.
Are you going to run with your own team again? And with a Cupra car?
Yes, with the same old car. However, it’s in the perfect condition and with still the same people in the ASK Vesnić garage. The winning combination is sticking together.
Last year, you were joined also by Jakub Wyszomirski. How many cars do you want to enter this year? And who, apart from you, will be racing for ASK Vesnić this year?
Jakub has decided to race with his own team in 2020. We wish him only the best, we’ve become really good friends. My team is going to technically support Rudolf Pešović, who is going to race for his own team GM Racing. So, on the entry list, you will find only one driver for ASK Vesnić – me!
Wyszomirski enters his own team, he will be joined by Kolakowski
What are your 2020 ambitions? To defend the championship, I guess?
Our goal and only ambition is to be on the top again.
Do you expect the championship battle to be tougher than last year?
It won’t be easy, that’s for sure. Latest news is that my countryman Dušan Borkovič will start with M1RA Racing´s Hyundai. He have lot of kilometers in top championships and also the team of WTCR champion (Norbert Michelisz) behind him as a support. Galáš and Kouřil are slightly more experienced now and as I’ve seen, they’re testing a lot. That’s a bit more difficult here in Serbia because we don’t have a proper racetrack available. We wanted to do pre-season testing at Slovakia Ring and Grobnik, but due to the coronavirus situation, we weren’t able to visit these EU countries. So, while the other did lots of testing at Brno, Most or Slovakia, I’ll get into the car for the first time after almost a year on a race weekend. And that’s not good. Hopefully, I’ll quickly return into the racing mode.
And who will be the biggest championship favourites on the grid? Dušan Borkovič, Jáchym Galáš and Dušan Kouřil Jr.? Or maybe somebody else?
Galáš and Kouřil will be hard to beat for me. They’re very fast, hungry for victors and they have support from good teams. Borkovič si top contender too. It’ll be tough, but we won’t make it easy for them.
With the exception of Dušan Borkovič, what do you expect from the other new drivers like Michal Makeš, Lukasz Stolarczyk or Szymon Ladniak?
Let’s wait and see. Surely, they’ll need some time to adapt to the new car and a new series, but they’re good and fast drivers. I think they’ll be competitive from the beginning. But, please, don’t forget the Fullinrace Academy guys. They have a great mentor and boss (Petr Fulín) and they can learn a lot from him. Jakub Wyszomirski is definitely going to be fast as well, and the same I expect from Žarko Knego from Croatia. Everybody wants to win, don’t forget that. It’ll be a very competitive season.
How would you compare Milovan Vesnić from 2019 season and the current one? Do you think that you have improved?
I always work on myself as a person and also on my car. We never sleep and we always try to be one step ahead than the others.
How was your pre-season preparation?
If you mean sim racing, then I don’t do that, I’m old school. It’s good fun and a way how to learn new circuits. But understandably, it’ll never be the same. In a real race car, you need more than a good wheel and a computer to be fast. And you don’t have a restart button. I visit the gym, analyse car footage, watch races and whenever I can, I go to test on a circuit.
The upcoming season will feature only four races. What do you think about that? Less room for mistakes? Does it mean there is more pressure than before?
There won’t be any room for mistakes. However, you also can’t be too hot-headed. Every point counts. But I won’t be under any more pressure. That will be more for the guys who want to beat me! (laughter)
You have raced in many championships during your career. How would you compare then to TCR Eastern Europe?
TCR Eastern Europe has a good concept for private teams in our region. It’s a good championship that is getting better and better every year.
What are your plans for the future? Do you intend to remain in TCR Eastern Europe for a long time? Or is there any other championship that you would want to try?
Right now, I’m here. But it’s always about money. We can afford TCR Eastern Europe, while there are other series that are simply far from our possibilities.
For how many more years do you want to race?
You should ask Tarquini first! (laughter) I’m only 44 now!
What are you going to do after you stop racing?
My family has been in racing since 1976. It was my dad who set up that tradition and I continued in it. I have two sons, so let’s wait and see if they decided to continue in it. However, I intend to remain in the paddock for the rest of my life, that’s for sure. Maybe as a team boss or an engineer. Racing is in my blood.
