Photo: Formula 4 Renault Denmark
Casper Tobias Hansen came out on top from a poorly contested Danish Formula 4 opener, which included a race won by a Formula 5 car.
Former F5 star Hansen made the graduation to F4 look easy, winning twice and finishing third in the other race.
He started his weekend with pole, and had an easy run to his victory in the first race at Padborg Park.
Aske Nygaard Bramming, who beat Hansen to the F5 title last year, initially ran second but was one of many whose car seemed to struggle in the heat and ended up retiring.
Valdemar Eriksen ended up taking the position, despite a time penalty, with Indian Brad Dias finishing third for Jan Magnussen’s team after battling with Jonas Lindhard Nielsen.
Nielsen, another F5 graduate, finished fourth, with Mikkel Grundtvig, Malthe Jakobsen and Frederik Kikkenborg being the only other F4 finishers. Martin Harritz Nielsen dominated the F5 classification.
His eighth place finish meant he started the second race from pole, the first time reversed grids had been used in Danish F4’s history, and Nielsen remarkably held off the F4 runners to take an overall victory.
The F5 car was faster in a straight line, while the F4 cars were stronger in the corners. This made for a particularly interesting battle on a circuit light on corners.
Grundtvig came closest, but could not find a way through and finished half a second behind the race winner. He got full points in the F4 classification though, and importantly recorded some early success for the 15-year-old’s self-run team.
Hansen climbed up to third from eighth, benefiting from a later error by Jonas L Nielsen to take the final podium place.
Kikkenborg just beat team-mate Dias to fifth, with Mads Hoe finishing second in the F5 classification in seventh.
Hansen started back at the front for the final race of the weekend, and dominated. Grundtvig took another second place, and second in the standings, while Casper Pilgaard put gearbox issues behind him to take his first points of the season in third.
Eriksen just beat Jakobsen to fourth, with Kikkenborg and?Aske Nygaard Bramming taking it to a photo finish for sixth, of which Kikkenborg was triumphant.
Martin H. Nielsen was the only F5 runner to enter the race, finishing a lapped eighth, while Dias and Jonas L. Nielsen were both disqualified.
Results round-up (F5 drivers in italics)
Race 1 (15 laps)
1?Casper Tobias Hansen Team FSP 16m58.116s
2 Valdemar Eriksen Valdemar Eriksen Racing +2.291s
3 Brad Dias Magnussen Racing Experience +5.530s
4 Jonas Lindhard Nielsen Lindhard Motorsport +7.870s
5 Mikkel Grundtvig Apex Racing +8.782s
6 Malthe Jakobsen Team FSP +9.322s
7 Frederik Kikkenborg Magnussen Racing Experience +13.582s
8 Martin Harritz Nielsen Team FSP +27.129s
9 Line Sonderskov Sonderskov Motorsport +1m02.024s
Ret Aske Nygaard Bramming Team FSP
Pole:?Hansen, 59.214s
Fastest Lap: Hansen, 59.379s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 M H Nielen 16m38.855s
2 Grundtvig +0.512s
3 Hansen +1.256s
4 J L Nielsen +1.542s
5 Kikkenborg +10.016s
6 Dias +10.415s
7 Mads Hoe?Mads Hoe Motorsport?+21.230s
8 Jakobsen +25.192s
9 Bramming +28.018s
10 Sonderskov +1m03.949s
FL: Hoe, 59.818s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Hansen 16m25.528s
2 Grundtvig +5.203s
3 Casper Pilgaard Pilgaard Motorsport +8.057s
4 Eriksen +13.436s
5 Jakobsen +13.769s
6 Kikkenborg +23.624s
7 Bramming +23.694s
8 M H Nielsen +1 lap
DSQ Dias
DSQ J L Nielsen
FL: Hansen, 59.849s
F4 Standings
1?Hansen 68? ?2?Grundtvig 53? ?3?Eriksen 30? ?4?Nielsen 27? ?5?Kikkenborg 27? ?6?Jakobsen 26? ?7 Dias?25? ?8?Pilgaard 15? ?9?Bramming 12