Lasse Bak defends his leading position in the official danish sim racing championship, Porsche Esports Carrera Cup Denmark. Mikkel Gade takes most points in the third round of the championship.
Iconic Track
Once again it was time for an exciting race in the official danish sim racing championship, this time at the legendary Belgian Formula 1 track, Spa Francorchamps. The track is a classic and on top of the list for many drivers. Not surprising for TV 2’s motorsport commentator, Jens Winther:
“Spa-Francorchamps is first and foremost a track that is known for offering action and drama. It has everything a race driver dreams of, fast straights, fast turns, but also technical sections and above all shockingly much height difference. It is a track that was created before the Second World War, where you did not have the same digging tools as today, and therefore it is almost just planted in the middle of the mountains, which has given the track that fantastic layout with steep climbs and not least, on of the most iconic turns in motorsport, Eau Rouge.”
In the live TV2 Studio, the host Simon Tordrup had this time presented the newly crowned European champion in the Ferrari Challenge, Michelle Gatting.
Gatting explained : “Spa is one of those old school tracks where you do not have to turn the steering wheel very wrong to be punished. There is no room for mistakes and you need to hit your turns and curbs very precisely. It takes an incredible amount of training to get wise, but that is precisely why it is a place that racing drivers love to fight for”
Race 1
After another close qualification, which especially benefited the drivers who were successful in taking advantage of slipstreams, it was for the first time this season last year’s champion, Mikkel Gade (FYRA SimSport), who snatched pole position ahead of teammates Martin Christensen (Team Flexlease.nu by FYRA SimSport), the championship leader Lasse Bak (Team Flexlease.nu by FYRA SimSport) and Kevin Nielsen (FYRA SimSport). The start was marked by intense drama with several cars in a collision, while the four FYRA cars with Mikkel Gade, Martin Christensen, Lasse Bak and Kevin Nielsen quickly ran off and put distance to the rest of the field. The four teammates drove close, and Gade and Christensen exchanged the lead several times in intense duels, where along the way Anton Güllich (Odense Gokart Hal) managed to close the gap to Nielsen in fourth place, but without attacking. Further down the field, there was a battle for the coveted 12th place, which gives a pole position in the second race – and here Bastian Buus (Porsche Denmark Esport) managed to conquer the position in the last lap, but was subsequently punished for hitting its competitor during the overhaul, which triggered a starting position from the pitlane. However, the race was won by Martin Christensen with Lasse Bak in second place, followed by Kevin Nielsen and Mikkel Gade.
Race 2
With the penalty to Bastian Buus, it was instead Casper Lund (P1 Esport) who took the start in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps, where already in the first round a number of positions were exchanged among the first 10 cars. Mikkel Gade was flying and advanced from a ninth – to a third place already in the second round – where four other cars had to go out after a series of crashes. The melee continued in the fourth inning, which triggered another major accident involving six cars and giving a penalty to Anton Güllich. Halfway through the race, Mikkel Gade took over the lead from Casper Lund, but could not escape Marcus Jensen (P1 Esport), who stayed close to Gade. Towards the end of the race, Marcus Jensen attacked and took the lead from Mikkel Gade in a nice maneuver – but only briefly until Gade took the lead again and crossed the finish line as the winner of the race. At the same time, Lasse Bak managed to get past Casper Lund, so he finished in third place. It did not go so well with the other top drivers from the first race, Martin Christensen and Anton Güllich, who had to settle for a 14th and 15th place, while Kevin Nielsen did not complete the race at all.
Lasse Bak still in the lead
With a second and a third place, Lasse Bak came solid from the third division of Porsche Esports Carrera Cup Denmark, where he still leads the championship position – but with a reduced distance to Mikkel Gade, who scored the most points at Spa-Francorchamps. Bastian Buus, however, had a disastrous day in Belgium, where a 12th place (and three points) in the first race and an incomplete second race sent him from a third to an eighth place in the overall standings. This, in turn, means that Martin Christensen moves up to third place and thus rounds off the preliminary podium. The next round of the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup Denmark will take place on the virtual version of the American Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday the 11th of January and will be broadcast live on TV 2 SPORT from 20.00.