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DTC: Series Padborg Park summary

James Thompson extends championship lead The Honda driver won two out of three races at Padborg Park James Thompson, England, extended his lead in the Danish Touringcar Championship with wins from two of the three races held at Padborg Park on ...

James Thompson extends championship lead

The Honda driver won two out of three races at Padborg Park

James Thompson, England, extended his lead in the Danish Touringcar Championship with wins from two of the three races held at Padborg Park on Sunday. The Brit had been fastest in practice in his Honda Accord Euro-R, and he nearly got maximum points from the weekend by winning the first race, progressing from eighth to second in the second race and then winning the final.

The first race was marred by a number of start collisions. When the field started braking for the lefthander after the straight, a chain of collisions started from the rear of the field. Per Poulsen, arup, was hit from behind and duly ended up crashing into John Nielsen, Randers, who sent Henrik Lundgaard, Hedensted, into a slide, the former European Rally Champion's Chevrolet Lacetti ramming Jason Watt, Herlev, and eliminating him.

At first Jason Watt seemed to be the only casualty, but in the next corner John Nielsen got sent into a spin, and he was collected by former champion Michael Carlsen, Vissenbjerg, who was also hit from behind by Kim Morgan, Vrå. After a safety car period to clear up the mess the re-start saw James Thompson leading from Michel Nykjær, Næstved, and Henrik Lundgaard, who ended up having a race-long battle for second place, while former Lister LMP1 driver Jens Møller claimed fourth.

Due to the high number of casualties and the reserve grid for race two, Tom Pedersen was to give Mercedes its first pole position for a DTC race, after having also been involved in a race one collision that had damaged his car. The Mercedes driver managed to lead the second race from Joachim Stephansen, Sønder Omme, but the BMW driver soon lost his place to Henrik Lundgaard, who then started to put pressure on Tom Pedersen. The Mercedes wasn't the fastest car in the field, and little by little a train of cars was cueing behind it. On lap seven a mere 3.2 second separated Martin Jensen, Albertslund, in ninth place from Tom Pedersen in the lead, as the Mercedes driver didn't put a foot wrong and Henrik Lundgaard couldn't find a way past him.

However, just when the win seemed to be within reach, a linkage to the gearbox broke with two-and-half lap to go, so Tom Pedersen coasted to the side, and instead Henrik Lundgaard could take the race win from James Thompson with Michel Nykjær in third.

For the final James Thompson and Henrik Lundgaard started on the front row, but on the sprint to the first corner there was a slight contact between their cars. While Henrik Lundgaard suffered a puncture from this, James Thompson could continue despite his right rear wheel having lost a 5 inch piece of the rim.

The Brit was clearly the fastest driver and built up a small cushion to Michel Nykjær in third, while Jens Møller was holding third place. After his retirement from race one former Formula 3000 race winner Jason Watt had moved his way up through the field, and he was now putting pressure on Jens Møller. Even though the Seat Leon pair negated several corners side by side, the privateer managed to take the third and last spot on the rostrum.

-credit: dtc

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