DTC: Series Jyllandsringen summary

Chevrolet took three wins in DTC opening weekend

Michel Nykjær and Henrik Lundgaard now leads the championship

Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark claimed three wins from three races, when the 2009 Danish Touringcar Championship kicked off at Jyllandsringen on Sunday. Former DTC champion and reigning Euro Cup winner Michel Nykjær won the first qualification heat as well as the final, and with team mate Henrik Lundgaard taking a win in the second heat, the pair now lies first and second overall with James Thompson in third place following the Brit's and the Hartmann Honda Racing's best performance at the circuit.

Michel Nykjær had qualified on pole position and in the opening race he swiftly managed to build up a cushion to the drivers behind him as they were involved in a tough battle for most of the race. Having claimed a starting position on the outside of the front row James Thompson ran almost a third of the opening lap side by side with Henrik Lundgaard before eventually gaining the upper hand. Soon ex-champions Jason Watt and Jan Magnussen caught up with the pair, and the quartet circulated with little less than 1.5 second separating them until the end.

Driving a Seat Leon for the first time Jens Møller finished as top privateer in eight place overall, and he thus got pole position for the reversed grid of race two -- a race he led until midway through lap five, when series returnee John Nielsen tried an overtaking manoeuvre on him, eliminating them both.

This promoted Henrik Lundgaard to the lead, and even though the former European Rally Championship initially was under pressure from Jan Magnussen, he managed to pull out a small gap. Behind them, however, a great battle was going on between James Thompson and Michel Nykjær for third place. For three laps the Brit managed to hold of the Chevrolet driver, but on the start of the eighth lap Michel Nykjær made one of his trade mark late braking manoeuvres at the end of the straight to claim third place. Behind them Per Poulsen and Jason Watt had a tough battle for fifth place -- a battle seeing the Honda driver being pushed sideways and Jason Watt given a penalty for the offence.

The final was an all Chevrolet front row, but from third on the grid James Thompson managed to squeeze inside Henrik Lundgaard so that he could put pressure on Michel Nykjær. Instead Henrik Lundgaard had his mirrors full of Jan Magnussen, but no matter what the reigning champion did, he could find a way past and get on the podium. At the front Michel Nykjær managed to open up a gap to James Thompson, who could catch up, but the Brit nevertheless claimed the first top three positions from himself and the Honda team at the Jyllandsringen. In the final Jens Møller managed to battle his way past Per Poulsen to claim privateer honours.

-credit: dtc