Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia

DTC: Series Jyllandsringen summary

Thompson and Poulsen claims first 1-2 win for Honda The Japanese cars dominated the final of the third DTC round James Thompson managed to maintain his points lead in the Danish Touringcar Championship, when for the second championship round in ...

Thompson and Poulsen claims first 1-2 win for Honda

The Japanese cars dominated the final of the third DTC round

James Thompson managed to maintain his points lead in the Danish Touringcar Championship, when for the second championship round in a row he won the prestigious final at Jyllandsringen, where his main opponent turned out to be team-mate Per Poulsen, driving a similar Honda Accord.

The opening race, however, had been dominated by pole man Michel Nykjær, whom nobody was able to match. The reigning Euro Cup winner managed to open up a minor gap, which proved to be sufficient, as James Thompson and Jan Magnussen battle for second behind him with Per Poulsen in fourth place waiting to get the opportunity to challenge the pair.

The first race, however, had two safety car periods. The first time the safety car came out was immediately after the start, when John Nielsen went off in a big way, the veteran putting his BMW hard into the tyre barriers and having to go to hospital to get a medial check up afterwards. The second safety car episode appeared when Joachim Stephansen and Casper Elgaard tangled in their battle for eight position and eventual pole position for race two.

Instead Kasper Jensen started that race from the top grid slot, but unfortunately he ran wide at the first corner, handing over the lead to Chevrolet's Henrik Lundgaard, who did a virtual copy of his team mate's run-away win from race one. Second place was fought out between former champion Jason Watt and series returnee Per Poulsen, and it was the latter who managed to take the runner-up spot, while James Thompson and Jan Magnussen once again battled, this time for fourth position.

Having finished the two qualification heats as fourth and second, Per Poulsen had qualified himself for his first ever DTC pole position for the final, where he had to start with Jan Magnussen alongside him. However, the latter made one of the most obvious jump starts, as when the safety car pulled away, his car was more than half a car's length in front of that of Per Poulsen.

"I tried to back off, but it wasn't enough. The stewards should really have made a re-start," Jan Magnussen said after having been handed a stop-and-go penalty, eventually dropping out of the race all together.

Instead privateer Per Poulsen was leading the race from James Thompson and Henrik Lundgaard, but soon the Brit was putting pressure on his team mate, and at the beginning of lap 4 James Thompson moved by and soon built up minor cushion, while Per Poulsen had to fight to keep Henrik Lundgaard at bay.

"I had not expected to win here," James Thompson said. "I have to say that it was a tough weekend. We struggled a bit in qualifying. We broke the power steering and had a few little problems in the race. I broke the anti roll bar blade in the first race and in the second one the car was not so good, so it was a bit of a roller coaster ride and then in the third race the car was fantastic, so I had a good dice with Per. He has really been fast over the weekend."

Per Poulsen was over the moon with his second place finish.

"This is the best experience I have ever had in motor racing," the former Renault Clio champion said. "The last hundred metres or so towards the chequered flag were just great, and I think I even managed to scream something over the intercom, as it was such a release."

-credit: dtc

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article UK: Series Snetterton test summary
Next article Run the scenarios: FIA, FOTA need to get together

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia