Danish Electric Off-road Champs Rd5 – Report

Round 5 of the Danish Electric Off-road Championship was held at the TiMo Tinglev Moedelklub track, close to the Danish-German border. The track is a small high-grip Astro tuft track with super low lap times of around 16 seconds. The 2WD race was a close affair right from start. With the weather forecast promising sun the whole day, it still started to rain just before the start of race but thankfully stopped again. In the dry Q1 it was Jesper Rasmussen who topped round 1 in front of Marcus Kærup, with Jesper scoring the only 19-lap run. Q2 was a tricky round with rain in heat 1 but it dried up for the top heat and the grip level was super high. Jesper Rasmussen traction-rolled his buggy a bit too much which let Marcus TQ Q2, meaning an open battle for round 3. Marcus and Jesper showed great pace again but the previous heat saw a short rain shower so Jesper was on wet tyres while Marcus and rest of the field was on dry tyres. Jesper was a little bit slower on the dry track, allowing the other drivers to catch up as Marcus topped the timing board but lost it after a crash, promoting Jesper into the lead to take the round TQ and with it the overall TQ in front of Marcus and Frederik Hovgaard.

After a heavy rain shower during lunch time the track became super slippery and tricky for the finals. Right from the tone Jesper was able to separate from the field while Marcus tried to hang onto 2nd place. After a small mistake though he had to let by Jonas Kærup and local on-road racer Mike Hansen who set a super quick pace in the wet. Up front Jesper took a relatively easy win, almost a lap in front of Jonas. A2 saw Marcus spinning in turn 2, causing some carnage that allows Jesper to bring home the win. With four wins in a row now Jesper is set to take the overall title, however Marcus, Jonas and Frederik also still have chance to take overall championship. After taking the day’s win early Jesper opted to sit out A3, allowing the other drivers to battle for the remaining podium spots undisturbed. Marcus took the holeshot while Frederik was able to get side by side just before the double jump. Unfortunately the two that had a coming together, promoting Jonas and Mike into the top positions. Both changed postings a couple of times but in the end Jonas took the win in A3 in front of Mike.

2WD Buggy top 3 results:
1. Jesper Rasmussen
2. Jonas Kærup
3. Mike Hansen

The 4WD class suffered from the same mixed weather conditions as 2WD and in Q1 it was Jesper who lead the field until the final minute when a mistake cost him about four seconds. Marcus took profit of the situation to take the TQ by about a second. In Q2 Jesper, Marcus and a couple more drivers were on wet tyres as it rained just before the race. However Kim Nielsen and Jan Larsen were on dry tyres while Jesper and Marcus were on fire in beginning but then the track started to dry up super fast, allowing Kim to become faster and faster while Marcus rolled over many times. Up front Jesper’s gap on the field got bigger but his car became harder to drive due to the rain tyres and when on the last lap Jesper got hit by a backmacker he lost valuable time but was lucky enough to take the TQ by 0.1 in front of Kim. In Q3 the rain started just when the top heat took off so everybody was on dry tyres, denying faster times and handing Jesper the overall TQ from lower-heat TQ Oliver Nielsen, who won the last qualifier.

A1 was super tricky but Jesper won the start while Kim got by Oliver quickly. Kim tried to make a move on Jesper but they went together and Kim, in great sportsmanship, waited to Jesper to recover. The confusion allowed Marcus have take lead while Jesper was closing in on him. In a great move Jesper would take back the lead later to take A1 with quite a margin. In A2 Jesper again took off to a great start and a tone to tone win. Behind him Kim and Marcus were in a battle for 2nd that ultimately went to Kim. A3 again was sat out by Jesper and it was Kim who got past Oliver in turn 1 while Marcus needed a bit longer to get into 2nd. Up front Kim was able to stretch the lead until he made a mistake that allowed Marcus to take the lead. Kim was pushing as hard as possible to close the gap and in the final minute Marcus made a similar mistake as Kim to let him by. With the win in A3 Kim also secured him the overall runner-up spot. With the win Jesper is looking clear to take the 4WD championship also.

4WD Buggy top 3 results:
1. Jesper Rasmussen
2. Kim Nielsen
3. Marcus Kærup

Thanks to Jesper Rasmussen for the report. | Images: RCProracing.dk