First DTC E85 victory for Magnussen
Jan Magnussen and his Alternative Engineering team took a big gamble, when they made the decision to go with E85 fuel. But after taking the first victory at heat 2 of the Danish Touring Car Championship, the idea might catch on. But nothing happens at Padborg Park without a fight!
John Nielsen claimed pole after the reversed grid of Heat 1, followed by privateer driver Per Poulsen in his Honda Accord. Behind Poulsen, Magnussen was getting ready to attack. A safety car period was in place shortly after the start, after Joachim Stephansen got a notch and got off the track in the Big Mag curve. At the restart, Magnussen got past Poulsen for third.
However, John Nielsen had just vanished; the Le Mans veteran had pulled out a great lead. But despite the problems Magnussen had complained about with the E85 drive, he managed to pull in Nielsen for the final attack. Jason Watt also got past Poulsen, despite the Honda´s grunt on the straights.
James Thompson sailed up through the field, the Brit making minced meat of the competitors. But when the Honda driver reached Watt, he had to settle for third behind the Seat Leon driver. Thompson used every single trick in the book, but to no avail.
But with only two laps from the flag, Magnussen went for it at the start / finish straight. In a move so gutsy, Magnussen moved on Nielsen making the veteran go onto the grass. Magnussen secures the first victory in an E85 powered car in DTC history!
”It was super cool with the victory, ” Magnussen smiled. ” It was awesome racing, and that overtaking of John was just right. I must admit to smiling a lot when that move succeeded, and I will not forget that right away.”
“We made a great gamble by going with E85, and by securing a victory already now is beyond belief. Still we lack the top speed as the other cars have, but the guys in the team has really worked on the setup to make the car fast, and we are fast over just one lap.”
“Still we lack the top speed on the straights, which makes it difficult to overtake, but right now I am just so very proud of the team, and the fact that we have secured the first victory with the biofuel.
Best privateer was Hartmann Honda driver Peter Poulsen, while the best Invitation Only driver was Martin Marrill in a Seat Supercopa.
