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Danish Touringcar Championship

Chevrolet dominated Padborg Park DTC round

Three drivers now have a chance of becoming Danish Touringcar Champion

Chevrolet made a clean sweep at the seventh and penultimate round of the Danish Touringcar Championship at Padborg Park. Sweden's Pontus Morth started by winning the first of the two qualification heats with team mate Henrik Lundgaard clinching the other, and subsequently the Swede went on to take his as well as Chevrolet's first ever win in a DTC final.

"I have been fighting for this for many years, and this year I have been doing well twice at this circuit, and it was just wonderful to finally win a DTC final. It was also nice to see that other cars than BMWs and Seats can win in the series," the jubilant winner said.

"The car worked well, and we have been very fast at Padborg Park, but until now we have not managed to get all things right. Previously we have not been perfect in the qualifying sessions, while others things have meant that we have finished further down the field. But this time everything just worked. It was a bit like the ketchup effect, where nothing has worked, and now it did."

In the first qualification heat Pontus Morth took the lead from Seat Leon driver Michel Nykjær and top BMW privateer Michael Outzen, but neither seemed interested in pushing the Chevrolet driver, as they both were intent on scoring valuable points rather than battle for a possible win. Especially championship leader Michel Nykjær wanted to play things safe, as title rivals Jan Magnusson was suffering from a car with lots of success ballast while John Nielsen's Team Essex BMW 320si E90 was really off form.

For the second qualification heat Robert Schlunssen started from pole position, but he soon got under pressure from Henrik Lundgaard, and midway through the heat the black and red Peugeot was passed by the blue Chevrolet, which went on to take a win. Initially the Hartmann Honda twins of Jens Edman and Martin Jensen tried to put pressure on Robert Schlunssen, but he withstood it, while a bit further down the field Michel Nykjær elected to let Pontus Morth take sixth place from him.

Based on the results of the two qualification heats the front row of the final consisted of Pontus Morth and Henrik Lundgaard, and the Chevrolet twin also led the field away in front of Michel Nykjær and Jan Magnusson. Michel Nykjær started to put pressure on Henrik Lundgaard, and on the third lap he got an opportunity to move into second place, while Henrik Lundgaard now was the centre of attention from Jan Magnussen. But no matter what the former Stewart GP driver did, he could not find a way past Henrik Lundgaard.

In the final John Nielsen could only manage eighth place, which means that his second place in the championship standings was taken over by Jan Magnussen, and now the two BMW drivers are the only ones with a chance of fighting Michel Nykjær for the title in three week's time at Jyllandsringen.

Sunday's races settled one title in the Danish Touringcar Championship -- the privateers'. It went to JM Racing's Michael Outzen, who was jubilant.

"I am just so glad right now," Michael Outzen said after having been celebrated for taking another privateers' cup win in the final, this time in front of Kristian Poulsen and Martin Pedersen.  

Jyllandsringen round six race summary

Jan Magnussen became a very convincing winner of the major round of the Danish Touringcar Championship held at Jyllandsringen. The BMW 320si E90 driver won the first qualification heat from Seat Leon driver Michel Nykjær and reigning champion Casper Elgaard, then climbed from eighth position on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag in the second qualification heat, securing him pole position for the final. In this race he just romped away into the distance, never being challenged, and with his win he reduced his deficit to the championship leader from 43 to 21 points.

"If just all race Sundays were like this," Jan Magnussen said after his win. "The final was easier than the second heat, but I had the speed to open up a gap and drive sensibly. In the second qualification heat I had to fight for it, and it was very hard, as nobody wanted to open any doors. That was by far the most exciting race of the day, even though I just got fifth place. On behalf of the team, I am very pleased, because we showed that we have found some speed, and I hope that we can find more, as this is the best start when chasing a championship lead. Not since driving Peugeots years ago have I had such a convincing win."

The second qualification heat see the top eight drivers from the first qualification heat start in reverse order, and thus Jason Watt got his first pole position for three years in the Danish Touringcar Championship. At the start the 2002 championship winner led from Henrik Lundgaard's Chevrolet Lacetti and Nicki Thiim's BMW 320si E90, but within a lap and a half, both had moved by him and started fighting for the lead. Several times the son of Kurt Thiim made attempts of passing the leading car, and the pair even touched each other a couple of times, but he never managed to avoid Henrik Lundgaard giving Chevrolet its first race win in the series.

"It is a race result that we have been longing to get, as we ought to have had it at Padborg Park, and I do feel this win is well deserved, as we had the speed to justify it," Henrik Lundgaard said.

The battle for third was also exciting in qualification heat 2. Michel Nykjær took third position from Jason Watt after a third of the race, but towards the end he was being chased down by Michael Outzen. However, before the latter could really put the pressure on Michel Nykjær, he himself got under attack from Jan Magnussen.

The final saw Michel Nykjær finish in the runner-up spot, and as John Nielsen's BMW 320si E90 was fiercely ballasted following his Padborg Park successes three weeks earlier, he could not keep up with the pace of the Seat Leon driver, who duly retook the championship lead.

"It was difficult with all the kilos in the car, and it all happened as I had predicted," John Nielsen said. "I had hoped that I could inherit some positions or gain from others driver's errors, but nothing went my way. On average I did get a top 5 position in the races, and that was okay."

"Before the meeting I had expected to regain the championship lead, as John would be driving with a lot of load in his car, but he did a fine job under the circumstances," Michel Nykjær said. "I am very happy to get these results, as the car was not running properly. We had thought that the dampers were the cause of the problems, but something else is wrong."

Hattrick gave John Nielsen Danish Touring Car series lead

Nicki Thiim had an impressive debut in his father's BMW

Sunday's fifth round of the Danish Touringcar Championship at Padborg Park really turned the top part of the championship table upside down. With an impressive hattrick of wins in both the two qualification heats and the final BMW driver John Nielsen shot from fourth position overall to become the new championship leader with an eight point lead in front of Seat Leon driver Michel Nykjær.

"I really had not expected to win all three races, because it really isn't possible to go from eighth position to first position in the second heat (where the top eight finisher from heat two start in reverse order, ed.), but I was lucky. I am really pleased that our team has retaken the championship lead. It was tough for us last time at this circuit, but sometimes you have to get pushed down to really get on top again," John Nielsen said.

In not a single of the three heats were his wins in serious doubt. From pole position in the first heat John Nielsen built up a good cushion, and even though his win in this heat gave him grid position eight for qualification heat two, he also managed to gain the lead here. The opening laps of that heat saw many crashes which eliminated many better placed drivers, so the only position gaining move that John Nielsen made, was when he moved past the pole sitting Peugeot 407 of David Falch.

Chevrolet Lacetti driver Pontus Morth was eliminated in a multiple car crash with Casper Elgaard and Jan Magnussen, when the trio was heading for the chikane side by side, while another prominent name in the battle for the championship, Michael Outzen, had been sent off the circuit seconds earlier in another incident. Summer break championship leader Michel Nykjær had a bad day as well, when he outbraked himself and went into the gravel trap.

"My car was heavy, and it was difficult to compete with the other driver. I did not think that it was my mistake, but it probably was," the driver said of his Seat Leon, which had got substantial success ballast from the preceding round of the series. "I felt that I braked earlier, as I knew that I could not keep up with the other drivers, and then I went of. In the second heat I had to start way down and try to progress as much as possible, but it was virtually impossible."

The big topic at Padborg Park was Nicki Thiim. The 18 year-old got his DTC debut at Poulsen Motorsport, substituting for his father Kurt Thiim, who was absent racing at the Le Mans Series i Belgium. In qualification heat 1 he managed to move from eighth to fifth place, while in the second qualification heat he made a minor mistake, before impressing everybody, when he was the only driver to shadow John Nielsen in the final.

"It was really fantastic. What I have done must be every racing driver's dream, so it was just perfect," Nicki Thiim said after the race.

"The final had several periods. At the beginning I was faster, and then there was a period, where John (Nielsen, red.) was faster, and towards the end I was faster, but then it was too late. I did not want to destroy anything, as he is racing for the championship, so there was no idea risking anything. But I do feel I did a proper job."

"It was really nice seeing what Nicki did," John Nielsen said afterwards. "On the last laps he flashed his lights at me in an attempt to press me. I thought that his old man had taught him that. It was really good that he had the ability to think of that."

While Nicki Thiim never got a proper attempt at passing John Nielsen, Jens Edman in contrast made several passing moves. The Swedes was lying sixth at the start of the final, but then he managed to get by David Falch and Tom Pedersen, before he could nick Robert Schlunssen's third place.

"Robert was my old team mate at Peugeot, so it was nice with a good fight with him and also nice to claim a podium position," Jens Edman said.

"The prospects had not been very good at the start of the weekend. We ended up as number 23 in qualifying, but we got the cars sorted on Saturday night, and then we have fought our way back up. We have had the speed on several occasions, but things have happened that have prevented us from progressing. But it was nice to achieve this today."

Round 4

In the first of the two qualification heats, which featured rolling starts for the first time in the Danish series, Casper Elgaard made one of his usual getaways to lead team mate John Nielsen by 1.7 seconds after the opening lap. Henrik Lundgaard was holding third in one of the new Chevrolet Lacettis, but he was under heavy pressure from Jan Magnussen, who had 2006 sensation Michael Outzen in tow.

However, Casper Elgaard's lead was cancelled when the safety car was sent onto the circuit, but still the pursuers could not threaten him, as Henrik Lundgaard's Chevrolet turned out to the proverbial cork in the bottleneck. However, on the very last lap Jan Magnussen succeeded in passing him to take third.

The grid for qualification heat two was equal to the result of qualification heat one except that the top eight swap positions. Thus Kurt Thiim started from pole position, but the man on the move was Michel Nykjær, who took his Seat Leon from third to first place within three laps. Michael Outzen also managed to get past Kurt Thiim, and he closed the gap to Michel Nykjær with the result that he had trio of Michael Outzen, Kurt Thiim and John Nielsen on tow in the last third of the race, but he still managed to win.

Further down the field Casper Elgaard and Jan Magnussen had tried to progress from their grid positions. The latter hit Casper Elgaard and Henrik Lundgaard during a passing manoeuvre and was duly given a penalty lane, which moved him back to seventh, while Casper Elgaard managed to climb from eighth to fifth.

Casper Elgaard started the final from pole position with John Nielsen alongside him, and the Team Essex pair dominated the most important race to take a 1-2 win. Initially Michel Nykjær held third from Kurt Thiim and Jan Magnussen, but the latter made good progress, and midway through the race he was pushing Michel Nykjær for third. Eventually Jan Magnussen managed to find a way past on a weekend, where the 2006 runner-up did not seem to be up to his usual pace.

"Under the circumstances the result was okay, but I would have wished for more points and a better position, but there was a lot of traffic and it was difficult to progress, so the gap to the Team Essex driver was somewhat large," Jan Magnussen said. "We had a good racing car, but I couldn't really use it much, as I got stuck in traffic, but with the problems we faced, third was fine."

His teammate Jason Watt was an also-rans, after having spun out of the qualification session and damaging the rear-end of his BMW 320si E90, while Henrik Lundgaard gave Chevrolet seventh place on the make's Danish debut.

"We were a bit unlucky with the result in heat two, which didn't help our starting position for the finale, but I do feel that we have been doing a fine job," the former European Rally Champion said.