Heavy weekend for Hartmann Honda Racing 01.09.2009: As expected this year’s Grand Prix at Jyllandsringen was a heavy weekend for Hartmann Honda Racing. With the heaviest car in the field James Thompson had to fight for his results, but he nevertheless

As expected this year’s Grand Prix at Jyllandsringen was a heavy weekend for Hartmann Honda Racing. With the heaviest car in the field James Thompson had to fight for his results, but he nevertheless managed to defend his lead in the Danish Touringcar Championship, even though this was his first race weekend with no top 3 result. Per Poulsen did also have a heavy weekend, where a couple of mistakes cost him the possibility of running at the front of the field from the start.

 
”I am pretty pleased with what we have achieved, particularly in qualifying, where we took second place,” James Thompson says.
 
“My car was maybe 50 or 60 kilos heavier than the next car on the grid, so from that side it was a fantastic performance in qualifying. The race was always going to be tough, because what you can do on one lap, you cannot always do that over a series of laps.”
 
In the first race James Thompson thus ended up going from second to fourth place, while he managed to finish the second race in the same position as he had started it in. In the finale he was running second at the beginning, but in this race he also had to surrender and let two rivals pass him.
 
“What I wanted to do was to still lead the championship, when I finished, so from that side we have done that,” James Thomspon says. He cannot take part in the two remaining rounds of the championship. “It is a moral victory, although it doesn’t mean anything, but from that side, we have done our five races and now unfortunately I have to do other things. The main thing is that we are still leading the championship.”
 
While James Thompson managed to score in all three races on Sunday, Per Poulsen only managed to complete two of the three races. His final ended with a big bang on the first lap.
 
”Everything was actually ruined by my qualifying, which eventually meant that I got the fate I got in race three,” Hartmann Honda Racing’s privateer says. He recorded the second best lap time in the battle against the clock, but twice he had cut corners too much, so his two best lap times were removed and he ended up as 12th on the grid for race one.
 
“I do think that I ended up repairing the damage, and the eighth place in race one was really what I was aiming for,” Per Poulsen says. “Off course it wasn’t far from perfect in comparison to the qualifying result, but I got pole position for race two, where I tried to build up a lead, but it was soon evident that Jan Magnussen was on a move. I could not do anything about him, and his passing manoeuvre was fair and square. He was just plain fast.”
 
Per Poulsen, however, did not give up without a fight. Jan Magnussen had to make several attempts before he got by the Honda driver on the last lap, robbing him of his maiden win.
 
”I just didn’t want to let by get by. He could perhaps possible end up losing speed, but he didn’t. But I did instead,” Per Poulsen says. His gearbox was suddenly causing trouble.
 
“Luckily my mechanics managed to repair it between race two and three, and I am greatly thankful for that. Their work was incredible, but unfortunately I could not repay them with a top result in the final, where I got caught between the cars of Casper Elgaard and Joachim Stephansen. There was nothing I could do. And I cannot push the blame onto somebody else.”
 
 
 
- Hans Hartmann  Photographer: Jeppe Rimmen-