Title rivals Jensen and Halder collides in eventful Padborg Park night races

Title rivals Kasper Jensen and Mike Halder collided in the final night race of the TCR Denmark weekend Padborg Park which proved to be eventful and controversial.

The first race of the weekend saw TPR Motorsport driver Halder starting from pole and headed the field from lights to flag.

Mascot Motorsport driver Jensen charged up from fourth to finish second behind his German rival.

But the joy was short-lived for Halder who was disqualified from the race due to failing the ride height check after the race, handing the win to main rival Jensen.

Jensen won the race ahead of Cupra driver Michael Markussen and team-mate Gustav Birch in third.

The second race had Philip Lindberg (Honda) starting from pole, only to stall the engine briefly as the lights went out, dropping down to the back of the field.

Instead it was Jacob Wunderov who took over the lead ahead of Birch who was turned into a half-spin by Markussen.

This allowed Jensen to sneak past to second place from sixth on the grid and the reigning champion soon passed Wunderov for the lead, quickly building up a lead.

Halder was also on the move early on in the race, making his way up to third by lap three from tenth on the grid.

The German driver then passed Markussen for second place on lap five as the Cupra driver made a mistake and braked too late heading into the hairpin.

Halder closed in on Jensen, but did not get close enough. Jensen won the race with a margin of 1.2 seconds over Halder, with Markussen completing the podium.

The third and final race was held as the sun had set, with Jensen starting from pole ahead of Markussen, while Halder lined up in sixth.

Jensen claimed the lead as the lights went out, with Halder again making a strong first lap and was up in to third place after a couple of corners.

Halder soon passed rival Honda driver Wunderov for second place and started to reel in leading driver and title rival Jensen.

The German driver remained very close behind Jensen for several laps and made a late move on the Dane with four minutes left of the race.

The two came together, with Jensen spinning off into the gravel and retirement.

Halder was handed two penalty lane rounds for the incident, dropping him from the lead to finish fourth.

This handed the lead to a delighted Markussen who won the race ahead of Wunderov and René Povlsen.

However, Mascot Motorsport has protested the result and a decision is expected on Sunday.

With the current result, Jensen leads the drivers’ championship on 402 points, just eight points more than Halder ahead of the Jyllandsringen season final on September 28-29.