Elgaard and Andersen share wins in Saturday races

Casper Elgaard and Martin Andersen shared race wins in the first day of the TCR Denmark double header at Jyllandsringen.
On his first appearance in the championship, Elgaard made his ambitions clear from the Qualifying, in which he won pole position on a track that was drying after a morning shower. His fastest lap of 1:15.422 was sixth tenths better than Kasper Jensen’s and nine tenths than Andersen’s. 
The first race was mostly processional, with Elgaard taking the lead from the pole ahead of Jensen, Andersen and Jacob Mathiassen. Behind that quartet, Nicolai Sylvest took a slow start from P5, while Jan Magnussen retired with a gearbox issue. Mikael Markussen benefitted from the situation and advanced to fifth after starting from P8.
Three groups were formed after a few laps. Elgaard led the first trio, as he was closely chased by Jensen and Andersen; Mathiassen was defending the fourth position from Markussen, while Michael Carlsen and Sylvest were involved in the battle for P6.
Despite all the efforts, the top seven positions did not change, but after the race Carlsen was excluded for underweight.
Kenn Bach was on pole for Race 2 and took the lead, but he was chased by Markussen and Andersen who managed to pass him in lap 4 and pulled away. Behind the top three, Mathiassen was fourth, but couldn’t keep his pursuers behind and eventually dropped to seventh as he was passed by Sylvest, Jensen and Magnussen in succession. 
The fight for the lead heated up and finally Andersen overtook Markussen in lap 9; afterwards he built a small gap on the way to claim his maiden win, while Bach completed the podium in third position but was then dropped to sixth by a penalty for blocking.
The sixth place was enough for Jensen to retain the leadership in the standings, though Andersen had closed the gap to 16 points.
Three more races, rounds 6, 7 & 8 of the championship, will take place tomorrow.

Race 1
1. Casper Elgaard (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 18 laps
2. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.264
3. Martin Andersen (Andersen Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 0.664
4. Jacob Mathiassen (Insight Racing, Alfa Romeo Giulietta), 2.771
5. Michael Markussen (Markussen Racing, Peugeot 308), 3.290

Race 2
1. Martin Andersen (Andersen Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 17 laps
2. Michael Markussen (Markussen Racing, Peugeot 308), 4.894
3. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 14.731
4. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 14.978
5. Jan Magnussen (LM Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 15.838

Championship points
1. Kasper H. Jensen 122 pts; 2. Martin Andersen 106; Nicolai Sylvest 100

Picture: TCR Denmark