Heavy rain marked the penultimate round of TCR Denmark at the series third visit to Jyllandsringen. Louise Frost had a very good qualifying, but car issues and difficult conditions halted her point scoring results. Nevertheless, pace is there ahead of the final round at Padborg Park.
At the third seasonal appearance for TCR Denmark at Jyllandsringen, Kasper H. Jensen (Massive Motorsport) entered the race meeting in the championship lead, ahead of Casper Elgaard (Brian Madsen Motorsport) and Michael Markussen (Markussen Motorsport).
Louise Frost, who had a great race last time out in Aarhus after a few technical problems in the previous meetings, was again the only female driver at the start, returning behind the wheel of the #94 TPR Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR.
In a dry qualifying session on Saturday, it was Elgaard who set the fastest lap in Q1 ahead of Kenn Bach and Nicolai Sylvest. Markussen had more troubles and stopped on track due to technical issues. Louise Frost was seventh fastest and advanced into Q2.
It was a session mainly decided on the first attempts, as Jensen led after his first lap and just a few drivers could top their lap times on their second try. Pole position thus went to Jensen, ahead of Sylvest and Jan Magnussen. Louise Frost finished 10th after a technical problem halted her run: "In Q2 I had an alarm in the car, but we couldn't find out what it was." - she told us.
A rainy day greeted the drivers on Sunday, with three races scheduled for the day. Under the pouring rain, Sylvest had a great start from P2 and jumped ahead of Jensen for the lead of Race 1. It was a battling race with many position changes: Sylvest was first ahead of Jensen and Elgaard, but the latter was passed by Magnussen as he made a mistake and went into the gravel some laps later under the pressure of Bach and Michael Carlsen.
As Sylvest pulled away - and ultimately won the race - Magnussen passed Jensen on the last lap to finish second. Louise Frost faced tyre issues and setup problems: her #94 Civic Type R was missing pace for the first race of the weekend, which she would finish in16th position.
In a still wet Race 2, a contact at the start between pole man René Povlsen, Jacob Mathiassen and Philip Lindberg saw the latter being sent into a spin. Povlsen led ahead of Mathiassen and Magnussen, who came from 9th on the grid.
Matthiassen and Povlsen made contact and Magnussen took over the lead. Mathiassen managed to hold on to second place, while Povlsen dropped back to sixth. But Mathiassen also made a mistake that would drop him to P5, before being forced to retire when he got stuck in the gravel two laps later.
The race was resumed for the two last laps, with Jan Magnussen taking another win ahead of Markussen and Jensen. Louise Frost found some pace with a better set-up after a few adjustments and finished in 11th place, as she was happier with the car despite the difficult conditions.
Heavy rain accompanied Race 3. Sylvest passed Magnussen for the lead - but was slowed down immediately once Lindberg spun after a contact with Allan Kristensen at turn 1. The Safety Car was deployed and, once the race was green-flagged again on lap 4, it would be Louise Frost to end up in the gravel, requiring another race neutralization.
"Because of the heavy rain, my wheel locked on the long straight and I was just a passenger from there into the sand" - she commented after the race.
At the restart, Sylvest pulled away from the lead and finished in P1, ahead of Jensen and Markussen.
We will get to see the TCR Denmark action once again this season, with the season finale set to get underway at Padborg Park from 15th to 16th October. Louise Frost will try to get back into the top-10, as she achieved in both the Copenhagen and Aarhus rounds.
Despite missing a few rounds, Frost impressed in the remaining races, having scored on four occasions.
"It’s great to see that I have the pace when the car is working and the setup is working."
