Photo: Nordic 4
The rebranded Nordic 4 series started its season at Denmark’s Padborg Park circuit this weekend, without any of the Formula Renault 1.6 entries that had influenced the rebrand.
What was known as Danish Formula 4 shared grids with the FR1.6-spec Formula Nordic last year for two rounds in Sweden and its season finale at Jyllandsringen, and is doing the same in 2024.
FR1.6 drivers are free to enter the four Nordic 4 rounds not in FNordic’s schedule, but nobody did at Padborg and the grid had 11 first-generation F4 cars (with the lack of Gen2 cars also influencing the series’ rebranding) and six Formula 5 cars.
Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen topped practice on Saturday, setting a 1m00.524s to lead Laerke Ronn Sorensen by 0.14 seconds and Marius Kristiansen by 0.513s.
In qualifying Jakobsen lowered the pace to 59.789s, edging Kristiansen by 0.169s. Nobody else set a sub-minute laptime, with Magnus Pedersen, Sebastian Bach and experienced F5 runner Mads Hoe closely matched in third to fifth.
Jakobsen converted pole into a third career victory in the afternoon, as 2021 champion Hoe rose to second place. Pedersen finished third, with Bach a distant fourth.
Kristiansen retired on lap three, which consigned him to 16th on the grid for race two on Sunday since the race one results were used but with the top eight reversed. That put Sebastian Schou on pole, ahead of Mads Kjelde Larsen, Louis Leveau and Sorensen.
A super opening lap from Sorensen earned him a 2.2s lead over Hoe, who had Pedersen and Jakobsen just behind. Shou, Leveau and Alexia Danielsson completed the top seven at the end of the lap.
Kristiansen was already eighth by lap two, and gained a spot in each of the next two laps as Hoe tracked down Sorensen. He got within a second on lap six, and tried a pass into turn one on lap eight. Behind him, Jakobsen overtook Pedersen for third.
After failing at turn one, Hoe got a move done further around the course on lap 10 and immediately pulled away. He finished the 16-lap contest 2.514s ahead, with Jakobsen holding third on a dramatic last lap as Kristiansen – who cleared Pedersen on lap nine – attacked. Bach recovered some of the places he lost on lap one to finish seventh.
Race three’s grid used the combined finishing positions from the first two, so Hoe and Jakobsen started up front.
Jakobsen built a 2.1s lead on lap one, but grew it little more and Hoe then closed in. On lap 12 he got within a second, then an incident sent Jakobsen into retirement.
Hoe comfortably won, with Kristiansen passing Pedersen on the last lap for second. He started 10th, reached seventh on lap two then sixth on lap five. Larsen retiring on lap 11 put him fifth, and he passed Sorensen a lap later.
Elsewhere in Scandinavia, series organisers have confirmed to Formula Scout that Formula Open Finland – which caters for Formula 3 and F4 cars – will not run this year and a 2025 return seems unlikely.
Results round-up [F5 entrants in italics, FR1.6 entrants in bold]
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen STEP Motorsport 16m51.294s
2 Mads Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +2.668s
3 Magnus Pedersen MP Racing +3.443s
4 Sebastian Bach STEP Motorsport +7.872s
5 Laerke Ronn Sorensen STEP Motorsport +12.038s
6 Louis Leveau Team FSP +12.899s
7 Mads Kjelde Larsen Mads Hoe Motorsport +13.269s
8 Sebastian Schou +17.088s
9 Mille Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +23.983s
10 Niels Ejnar Rytter +24.567s
Pole: Jakobsen, 59.789s
Fastest lap: Jakobsen, 1m00.413s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Mads Hoe 16m44.486s
2 Sorensen +2.514s
3 Jakobsen +4.648s
4 Marius Kristiansen Team FSP +5.026s
5 Pedersen +10.759s
6 Schou +11.790s
7 Larsen +12.085s
8 Bach +12.405s
9 Leveau +12.859s
10 Alexia Danielsson Team FSP +22.998s
FL: Kristiansen, 1m00.458s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Mads Hoe 16m47.281s
2 Kristiansen +4.070s
3 Pedersen +4.691s
4 Sorensen +8.765s
5 Bach +9.525s
6 Schou +11.056s
7 Leveau +15.386s
8 Mille Hoe +21.231s
9 Anton Morsing RaceCraft Driver Academy +24.024s
10 Mads Kjeldtoft Ljungberg Team FSP +24.343s
FL: Kristiansen, 1m01.076s
Championship standings
1 Mads Hoe 68 2 Jakobsen 40 3 Sorensen 40 4 Pedersen 40 5 Kristiansen 30 6 Bach 26 7 Schou 20 8 Leveau 16 9 Larsen 12 10 Mille Hoe 6