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.


Result of qualification heat 1:

1.    Michel Nykjær        Chevrolet Lacetti    14:25,258
2.    James Thompson        Honda Accord    14:27,961
3.    Henrik Lundgaard        Chevrolet Lacetti    14:28,453
4.    Jason Watt        Seat Leon    14:28,977
5.    Jan Magnussen        BMW 320si E90    14:29,353
6.    Martin Jensen        BMW 320si E90    14:32,534
7.    John Nielsen        BMW 320si E90    14:35,765
8.    Jens Reno Møller        Seat Leon    14:36,979
9.    Kasper Jensen        BMW 320i E46    14:37,280
10.    Joachim Stephansen        BMW 320si E90    14:42,972

Result of qualification heat 2:

1.    Henrik Lundgaard        Chevrolet Lacetti    14:32,185
2.    Jan Magnussen        BMW 320si E90    14:33,880
3.    Michel Nykjær        Chevrolet Lacetti    14:36,188
4.    James Thompson        Honda Accord    14:38,390
5.    Per Poulsen        Honda Accord    14:53,955
6.    Michael Carlsen        Peugeot 407    14:55,576
7.    Joachim Stephansen        BMW 320si E90    14:55,967
8.    Jason Watt        Seat Leon    14:59,213
9.    Jens Reno Møller        Seat Leon    15:00,273
10.    Jens Ole Mathiesen        BMW M3 E46*    15:15,585
* invitation only (not point scorer)

Result of final:

1.    Michel Nykjær        Chevrolet Lacetti    13:07,653
2.    James Thompson        Honda Accord    13:09,115
3.    Henrik Lundgaard        Chevrolet Lacetti    13:15,557
4.    Jan Magnussen        BMW 320si E90    13:15,998
5.    Jason Watt        Seat Leon    13:21,504
6.    Jens Reno Møller        Seat Leon    13:24,018
7.    John Nielsen        BMW 320si E90    13:24,595
8.    Per Poulsen        Honda Accord    13:25,713
9.    Martin Jensen        BMW 320si E90    13:26,182
10.    Michael Carlsen        Peugeot 407    13:28,474


Championship positions - Danish Touringcar Championship:

1.    Michel Nykjær    55
2.    Henrik Lundgaard    50
3.    James Thompson    47
4.    Jan Magnussen    41
5.    Jason Watt    32
6.    Jens Møller    25
7.    Per Poulsen    23
8.    Michael Carlsen    21
9.    Joachim Stephansen    19
10.    John Nielsen    18
11.    Martin Jensen    17
12.    Kasper Jensen    12
13.    Kim Morgan Jensen    3

Championship positions – privateer section:

1.    Jens Møller    53
2.    Per Poulsen    48
3.    Michael Carlsen    45
4.    Joachim Stephansen    41
5.    Kasper Jensen    30
6.    Kim Morgan Jensen    10

Championship positions - teams:

1.    Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark    105
2.    Hartmann Honda Racing    70
3.    Ree Sport    58
4.    Team Telesikring Racing    37
5.    Team Bygma Jason Watt Racing    32
6.    Team FDM Motorsport    25
7.    Carlsen Motorsport    21
8.    JM Racing    12
9.    KC Motorsport    3


- Morten Alstrup -