Elgaard and Mathiassen claim wins on day two at Jyllandsringen

Danish touring car star Casper Elgaard claimed two wins, and Jacob Mathiassen a maiden victory, on the second day of running in one weekend for TCR Denmark at Jyllandsringen, while Kasper H. Jensen extended his championship lead after a consistent performance.
In Race 1, Jan Magnussen had secured pole position, but at the start, Elgaard drove around the outside of him into Turn 1 and took the lead, while Nicolai Sylvest slotted into third.
Elgaard and Magnussen quickly pulled away, as Sylvest struggled for pace and soon dropped three places in three laps, behind championship leader Jensen on lap two, Martin Andersen a lap later, then finally to sixth when Michael Markussen dived down the inside at Turn 1 on lap 5. Up front, Elgaard defended the lead for the whole race against Magnussen, while Jensen and Andersen were able to close up to the leading pair. The fight remained a stalemate however, with Elgaard holding on to take the win over Magnussen by just over half a second, with Jensen completing the top three.
Although he was due to start from the reversed grid pole, Kenn Bach’s Honda was unable to hit the track due to a technical problem, which gave Mathiassen a clean run to the first corner from the outside of an empty front row, though he was challenged by Sylvest. Falling in behind them were Markussen, Jensen and Andersen.
On lap two, Magnussen dived down the inside of Andersen to snatch fifth, while Mathiassen was getting away up front, with Sylvest again struggling for pace and holding up a five-car train. The first safety car was out on lap three after an incident involving Michael Carlsen, Johnny Vejlebo and Allan Kristensen. The race was restarted on lap six, with Markussen diving down the inside of Sylvest for P2; Sylvest braked too late and ran wide, allowing Markussen through to second along with Jensen in P3.
Behind them, Andersen was making a similar lunge down the inside of Magnussen, but the move was less clean, with Magnussen knocked wide into the gravel trap, causing another safety car period. Andersen was handed a ten-second penalty that dropped him out of the top ten, and during a three-lap sprint at the restart, Mathiassen pulled away to take the first win for the Alfa Romeo in the series, with Markussen and Jensen completing the podium.
The points from Race 1 and 2 combined established the grid for the final race, with Elgaard starting from pole ahead of Mathiassen and Jensen. Elgaard led the way into Turn 1, while Mathiassen and Jensen went side-by-side through, before Jensen was able to muscle his way up into second. From then on, it was a two-Honda race, with Elgaard just keeping ahead of Jensen for all 14 laps. Mathiassen was running a safe third and looked to finish with a very high score, which would have moved him to second in the standings, until his Alfa Romeo ground to a halt with four laps to go, promoting Markussen to third. Magnussen recovered to fourth after starting seventh on the grid, let through by his teammate Sylvest early on, and gaining another position after Andersen was forced to serve a penalty for exceeding the track limits.
Jensen’s strong points haul with four podiums from five races over the weekend, sees him lead the standings, 35 points clear of Andersen, with Sylvest just two points further behind.
The next round of TCR Denmark takes place at Ring Djursland on September 26th-27th.

Race 1
1. Casper Elgaard (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 18 laps
2. Jan Magnussen (LM Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 0.562
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.973
4. Martin Andersen (Andersen Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 1.523
5. Michael Markussen (Markussen Racing, Peugeot 308), 2.356

Race 2
1. Jacob Mathiassen (Insight Racing, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 12 laps
2. Michael Markussen (Markussen Racing, Peugeot 308), 1.662
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 2.820
4. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 5.421
5. Casper Elgaard (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 5.697

Race 3
1. Casper Elgaard (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 14 laps
2. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.474
3. Michael Markussen (Markussen Racing, Peugeot 308), 2.630
4. Jan Magnussen (LM Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 3.413
5. Martin Andersen (Andersen Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 5.364

Championship points
1. Kasper H. Jensen 176 pts; 2. Martin Andersen 141; Nicolai Sylvest 139

Picture: TCR Denmark