Sylvest wins twice and rejoins TCR Denmark’s title fight

LM Motorsport’s Nicolai Sylvest won two of TCR Denmark’s three races at Jyllandsringen and relaunched his odds in the title fight. The reigning champion Kasper H. Jensen retained the leadership in the standings, but his advantage was reduced to only three points over Casper Elgaard who won today’s second race, while Sylvest moved into P3, 30 points off the leader. His teammate Jan Magnussen, who missed the event due to the clash with the Le Mans 24 hours, dropped to fifth behind Michael Markussen.
Sylvest scored his first win of the season, leading from pole position to the end in Race 1; he finished almost six seconds clear of Jensen. Sylvest held the lead at the start ahead of Jensen and began to pull away; behind him Jacob Mathiassen tried to steal second from Jensen into Turn 1 but was not successful. After that, the top four held station with Mathiassen third and Elgaard fourth. The only change amongst the top-five came in lap 3, when Markussen passed René Povlsen.
In Race 2, Elgaard claimed his second victory of the season, fighting his way from seventh on the grid. He made a lightning start and was quickly up to third, passing his teammate Gustav Birch who had already been passed by Kristian Moe Sætheren. Michael Carlsen was leading from the pole before a safety car period from lap two; the race restarted on lap six, with just under six minutes left to run and Carlsen served a drive-through for a jump start. This promoted Sætheren to the lead for just the length of the straight, before Elgaard dived down the inside at Turn 1 to take the lead, and quickly began to pull away. Elgaard would take the win by nearly six seconds over Sætheren, who just managed to hold off points leader Jensen to claim his first podium result.
In Race 3, Elgaard led from the pole, followed by Jensen, Sylvest, Markussen and Sætheren. Sylvest elbowed his way past Jensen moving into P2 during the opening lap and then stole the lead from Elgaard in lap 3. He was then able to create a gap, while Elgaard and Jensen began fighting for second. With Markussen running alone in fourth, Sætheren was closely chased by Birch, Kenn Bach, Carlsen and Povlsen. A full course yellow regrouped the field, but when the green flag was waved, Sylvest pulled away again towards his second victory of the day ahead of Elgaard, Jensen, Markussen and Birch, who passed Sætheren for fifth in lap 14.
The next event will take place at Aahrus on September 18/19.

Jyllandsringen – Race 1  
1. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 14 laps
2. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 5.983
3. Jacob Mathiassen (Insight Racing, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 9.075
4. Casper Elgaard (Brian Madsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 9.834
5. Michael Markussen (Markussen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 14.315

Jyllandsringen – Race 2  
1. Casper Elgaard (Brian Madsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 11 laps
2. Kristian Moe Sætheren (Insight Racing, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 5.697
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 6.057
4. Michael Markussen (Markussen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 7.409
5. Gustav Birch (Brian Madsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 7.925

Jyllandsringen – Race 3  
1. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 18 laps
2. Casper Elgaard (Brian Madsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 6.446
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 7.689
4. Michael Markussen (Markussen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 14.685
5. Gustav Birch (Brian Madsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 16.587

Championship points
1. KH. Jensen 203 pts; 2. C. Elgaard 200; 3. N. Sylvest 173 

Picture: TCR Denmark