DTC: Jyllands-Ring time practice

There was excitement aplenty during the 15 minute long timed practice for Whit Monday's third round of the Danish Touringcar Challenge at the Jyllands-Ring. Heavy rain in the morning resulted in a wet circuit, which gradually dried out during the DTC practice session, seeing lap times tumble down. Seven times during the session the pole position changed ownership, and at the middle of the session it was Jason Watt's name that headed the list with a time of 50,535s. But then he had to drive slowly to the side of the circuit, while a total of five drivers bettered his time. "During braking at the end of the straight there was this big bang, and then suddenly there was not much drive left to the wheels," Jason Watt explained, after his Peugeot 306 GTI had been towed back to the paddock. "I think it was a driveshaft that broke. It was disappointing. Before today I would have been glad for my sixth place on the grid, but now I am disappointed."

After Watt's failure, BMW driver Mike Legarth took over at the top of the timing monitor. His time of 50,265s gave him pole position which he held until the penultimate minute, when John Nielsen lapped the Jyllands-Ring in 49,986s.

"Now it is no longer a surprise that I am good during practice, but nevertheless I am still disappointed that I did not end up on pole position this time," Mike Legarth said after he had been beaten. But it had not been easy for John Nielsen to wrest away pole position from him.

"It was tight," the Nissan driver sighed.

"I got into the pit too late for my tyre change, but as we had problems with my left front wheel, it meant that I could only manage one lap before the chequered flag. There was only one thing to do and that was to close my eyes and just race on. I have to confess that I am really turned on this weekend. Now the car has to work, as I simply want to win. But I think that my pole position prove that already a fortnight ago at Ring Djursland we had the performance that is needed." On the second row behind John Nielsen and Mike Legarth the leader of the Danish Touringcar Challenge, Michael Carlsen, will start alongside Kurt Thiim. The former Mercedes DTM star had a good run in his Volkswagen Beetle, which was holding second place for a short moment. Last year's champion, Jesper Sylvest, was fifth-fastest in his Citroën Xsara Coupé, and he will thus line up alongside Jason Watt in Monday's DTC race, which starts at 14.00.

<pre> Result of timed practice for round 3 of the Danish Touringcar Challenge:

1.  John Nielsen        McDonald's Nissan Racing        Nissan Primera            49,986
2.  Mike Legarth        Legarth Racing                  BMW 320i                  50,265
3.  Michael Carlsen     Michael Carlsen Motorsport      Peugeot 306 GTI           50,379
4.  Kurt Thiim          Team Hohenester                 VW Beetle                 50,399
5.  Jesper Sylvest      Sylvest Motorsport              Citroën Xsara Coupé VTS   50,506
6.  Jason Watt          Peugeot Sport Team              Peugeot 306 GTI           50,535
7.  Casper Elgaard      Renault Motorsport Denmark      Renault Megane Stationcar 50,686
8.  Michael Schröter    Michael Schröter                VW Golf GTI               50,714
9.  Klaus Madsen        Team Brask Racing               Peugeot 306 GTI           50,833
10. Thorkild Thyrring   McDonald's Nissan Racing        Nissan Primera            50,927