LM Racing’s Sylvest and Magnussen take all at Jyllandsringen

The LM Racing pair of Nicolai Sylvest and Jan Magnussen took victories in all the three TCR Denmark races at Jyllandsringen on a very wet Sunday. Sylvest won races 1 and 3, while Magnussen was victorious in the second race.
The reigning champion Kasper H. Jensen finished three times third and so retained the lead in the standings, 52 points over Michael Markussen, while Casper Elgaard has slipped to third, six further points adrift. Sylvest and Magnussen are fourth and fifth with gaps of 60 and 62 points. With 81 points on offer in the season finale, all five are still in contention for the title.
In Race 1, under a pouring rain, Sylvest took the best start from P2 on the grid and kept pole sitter Jensen at bay for the lead. Elgaard tried to squeeze between Sylvest and Jensen but had to settle in third ahead of Magnussen. In lap 2, Jensen tried to pass Sylvest who closed the gap; behind them, Elgaard made a small mistake and Magnussen passed him, moving into third. Further behind, Markussen elbowed his way through the field after starting from the back of the grid and climbed to ninth by lap 4. Two laps later, put under pressure from Kenn Bach and Michael Carlsen, Elgaard went in the gravel of Turn 1. Sylvest pulled away, while Magnussen closed in on Jensen and overtook him during the last lap to finish second behind his teammate. 
It was still raining when Race 2 started, with pole sitter René Povlsen, Jacob Mathiassen and Philip Lindberg heading abreast towards Turn 1. The clash was unavoidable: Lindberg spun onto the gravel, while Povlsen led from Mathiassen and Magnussen who had taken a great start from P9 and benefited from the commotion to move up to third. Mathiassen put the pressure on Povlsen and muscled his way past him oin lap 3; they made contact and Povlsen dropped to sixth, while Magnussen didn’t miss the opportunity and took the lead from Mathiassen. Further behind, Bach and Elgaard clashed while fighting for P9; Elgaard spun, and Bach was given a 10-second penalty for the incident.
In lap 6, Mathiassen made a mistake a dropped to fifth, allowing Markussen, Jensen and Sylvest to move up to second, third and fourth. Two laps later, Mathiassen’s race ended into the gravel at Turn 1 and the safety car was deployed again. Racing resumed for the two final laps; Magnussen controlled his pursuers to take the win ahead of Markussen, Jensen, Sylvest and Carlsen.  
At the start of Race 3, Sylvest pipped his teammate Magnussen who sat on pole and led into Turn 1, but the safety car was immediately deployed to recover Lindberg’s Alfa Romeo that had been sent into a spin by Allan Kristensen at Turn 1. The race resumed in lap 4, but then again, the safety car came into action after Louise Frost went into the gravel at Turn 1. When the green flag was waved at the beginning of lap 6, Sylvest began to pull away, while Magnussen defended the second position from Jensen, Markussen and Carlsen. They finished in the order, while Elgaard, who had stalled the engine at the start, completed a brilliant recovery from the back of the field to seventh.
The championship will resume at Padborg Park for the season finale on October 16/15.

Jyllandsringen – Race 1
1. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 12 laps
2. Jan Magnussen (LM Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 5.311
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 6.882
4. Kenn Bach (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 8.408
5. Michael Carlsen (Carlsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 8.600

Jyllandsringen – Race 2
1. Jan Magnussen (LM Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 11 laps
2. Michael Markussen (Markussen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 1.418
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 1.857
4. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición),3.091
5. Michael Carlsen (Carlsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 4.749

Jyllandsringen – Race 3
1. Nicolai Sylvest (LM Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 15 laps
2. Jan Magnussen (LM Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición), 3.836
3. Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 4.906
4. Michael Markussen (Markussen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 8.136
5. Michael Carlsen (Carlsen Motorsport, Peugeot 308), 11.955

Championship points
1. KH. Jensen 314 pts; 2. M. Markussen 262; 3. C. Elgaard 256

Picture: TCR Denmark