In TCR Denmark’s opener, Halder and Jensen split the spoils
Reigning TCR Denmark champion Kasper H. Jensen took pole and the reversed grid race win at the first round of the season at Padborg Park and now leads the standings but has close competition with his last year’s title rival Mike Halder who claimed victories in both Race 1 and Race 3. However, despite Halder won two out of three, with the points for the fastest lap in every race, Jensen holds a two-point lead over the German, with the both of them driving Honda Civic Type R FL5 cars for Mascot Motorsport and TPR Motorsport respectively. In fact, the Honda cars have dominated the weekend, with Philip Lindberg finishing twice third.
Race 1 - Jensen had taken the pole by three-tenths of a second over Halder, with his new teammate Malte Ebdrup qualifying an impressive third on his series debut in the older FK7. Jensen however made a slow start, which allowed Halder to lead, while Michael Markussen got the jump up to third in his new CUPRA Leon VZ, leaving Ebdrup and René Povlsen battling for fourth. The two drivers collided at T6 on the opening lap and both retired, with the safety car deployed. At the restart, Halder held off Jensen’s Honda to take the opening win while Markussen completed the podium.
Race 2 - Jensen made a lightning start from P7 on the grid and was leading ahead of his teammate Gustav Birch before the end of the first lap. Halder made slower progress from eighth, but successfully fought his way all the way through to finish second, grabbing third from Lindberg at T1 at the start of lap 14, before passing Birch with two laps to go at T6, with Birch also falling behind Lindberg. The result was the first time the new Civic FL5 took all spots on the podium in TCR competition, indeed actually completing the top four with Birch fourth.
Race 3 - Jensen got away well from pole and for some time looked like he had the race under control ahead of Halder, but the German turned up the pressure in the final laps and the race erupted with two laps to go, with Halder first diving past into T1 before Jensen snatched the lead back at T5. Halder lined up another run a few corners later and retook the lead at T8, and held on to claim victory, with Jensen and Lindberg completing the podium and Markussen fourth.
The second event of the season will be at Jyllandsringen in two-week time.
Padborg Park – Race 1
- Mike Halder (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 14 laps
- Kasper H. Jensen (GMB Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.607
- Michael Markussen (Markussen Racing, CUPRA Leon VZ), 5.844
Padborg Park – Race 2
- Kasper H. Jensen (GMB Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 16 laps
- Mike Halder (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 10.417
- Philip Lindberg (PL Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 11.780
Padborg Park – Race 3
- Mike Halder (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 16 laps
- Kasper H. Jensen (GMB Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.801
- Philip Lindberg (PL Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 10.168
Championship points
- KH. Jensen, 88 pts; 2. M. Halder, 86; 3. P. Linberg, 61
Picture: TCR Denmark/Stumpphoto
