General
DTC: Jyllands-Ringen round six report
Casper Elgaard loses win due to noise problems Instead reigning champion Jan Magnussen was handed a joyless win There was drama on and off the road when the drivers in the Danish Touringcar Championship took part in the most prestigious ...
Edited: Jun 30, 2009, 5:54 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Casper Elgaard loses win due to noise problems
Instead reigning champion Jan Magnussen was handed a joyless win
There was drama on and off the road when the drivers in the Danish Touringcar Championship took part in the most prestigious round of the series - the Grand Prix of Denmark - the sixth round of the eight race series at Jyllands-Ringen.
Crossing the finishing line first in the important final race of the meeting was a first time ever achievement for both Casper Elgaard and his Team Essex Invest.
"I that race I probably made the best start that I have ever made," the jubilant BMW driver said in the minutes after Danish Minister of Sport and Culture, Brian Mikkelsen, had given him the winner's garland. "I dived between the two cars in front of me and reached the first corner in front. From there it was just a question of driving the best I had learned. To win the Grand Prix is something that I have dreamt about for a long time, because it is the race, I have wanted to win the most. It is unbelievable!"
Unbelievable was also the verdict that came two hours after the engines had been turned off. The top three cars on the road when through post-race scrutineering, which revealed that both the BMW 320i of Casper Elgaard and the Seat Toledo of Michel Nykjær exceeded the noise level by 10-12 dB. According to the national rule book thise exquates to a 30 second penalty, which sent Elgaard and Nykjær back to seventh and eighth, while Jan Magnussen was handed a rather joyless win.
"A win is a win, but this ain't fun," the Peugeot driver said. "If you are going to win a race, you are going win it on the circuit, where everybody can see it. Casper was really fast today. Michel the same, and neither of those have been going faster, because their cars made to much noise."
Jens Edman and Henrik Lundgaard had started from the front of race one, but while the latter made a terrible getaway, Jens Edman went into the lead and started building up a small cushion. This however was soon nullified by John Nielsen, who was significantly faster on the twistier parts of the circuit. Jens Edman left the door marginally opened, John Nielsen tried a passing move, but in the end the two cars tangled, disrupting the front suspensions of both cars. Thus Michel Nykjær found himself into a lead he was not to lose, while the rest of the field also gained two positions.
This meant that Jason Watt was elevated from seventh to fifth at the chequered flag, and with the top five positions being reversed for the grid of the final, the 2002 champion was on pole. Alas, he was passed by the fast starting Casper Elgaard and when entering the first tight left hander, his Peugeot 307 understeered into the sandtrap, ruining his race.
Jan Magnussen inherited second place, but was soon under hot pressure from Michel Nykjær, who made one of his trade mark daring passing manouvres at the end of the straight, going by the reigning champion and then closing the gap to Elgaard, whom he could not challenge. Moving in the other direction was championship leader Henrik Lundgaard, who made yet another tardy getaway and suffered a plethora of problems.
"I'm really appalled at the hard driving that I experienced in the first corner," Henrik Lundgaard said, shaking his head. "People do not take any care, just as along as they can push and shove. The steering of my car got a hefty whack, and I'm really lucky to see the chequered flag with rubber on the tyres. As early as lap three the tyres are overheating, so it was just a question of finding a way to the get to the finishing line. I'm really glad that I only had to let to other cars get past me."
Generally the judges had a busy day. Apart from the 30 second noise penalties to Casper Elgaard and Michel Nykjær, race exclusions were handed out to John Nielsen (for his collision with Jens Edman), while the same fate was suffered by Jens Møller and Jacob Kristensen for similar offences.
The penultimate round of the Danish Touringcar Championship takes places at Padborg Park on September 19th.
-dtc-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article ETCC: Imola: Eve of the battle
Next article ETCC: Imola: Driver race quotes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jan Magnussen
Bourdais, Moss headline second batch of Sebring's 75 all-time greatest drivers
IMSA
IMSA
Bourdais, Moss headline second batch of Sebring's 75 all-time greatest drivers
Jan Magnussen to make Le Mans return in LMP2 class
WEC
WEC
Jan Magnussen to make Le Mans return in LMP2 class
Magnussen: "Hard to comprehend" extent of Le Mans bad luck
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Magnussen: "Hard to comprehend" extent of Le Mans bad luck
Latest news
Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 14 min
Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027
Matt Crafton to make surprise NASCAR Truck return this weekend at Homestead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
47 min
Matt Crafton to make surprise NASCAR Truck return this weekend at Homestead
Francesco Bagnaia counting down days until end of Ducati MotoGP tenure
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
59 min
Francesco Bagnaia counting down days until end of Ducati MotoGP tenure
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 Can-Am drivers
General
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 Can-Am drivers
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe