Photo: Nordic 4
Nordic 4 headed to Sweden for round three of the season, and its races at Karlskoga ran in conjunction with the Formula Renault 1.6-spec Formula Nordic.
Track action began on Friday with a test session, topped by Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen, then a practice session where Jakobsen set a 1m05.661s to be fastest by 0.628 seconds over Magnus Pedersen.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning, and Jakobsen was fastest again. He set a 1m05.392s to lead Formula 5 racer Mads Hoe and Pedersen by 0.647s, with Louis Leaveau a further 0.022s behind in fourth and Sebastian Bach 0.913s off the pace in fifth. Daniel Varverud was the top FNordic runner in sixth.
A massive downpour hit the track before race one in the afternoon, and Peder Saltvedt managed to miss his grid slot and slide off the track so his car had to be pulled away before the race could begin.
Jakobsen nailed the start, while Pedersen and Varverud had cleared Hoe by turn one.
As Jakobsen streaked away, Hoe was left holding off Marius Kristiansen and Leveau. On lap six the trio closed back in on Varverud, and Hoe passed him at the start of lap seven. Kristiansen and Leveau overtook him a few corners later, then Leveau managed to also get ahead of Kristiansen. Varverud promptly retired in the pits.
There was a 4.4s gap between the top two and 22s back to third when the safety car appeared on lap nine, and Pedersen tried passing Jakobsen around the outside of turn one when racing resumed. He failed, then slid off into the barriers later in the lap.
Jakobsen now had a 4.5s lead over Hoe, which grew to 12.878s by the finish. Bach joined the battle for third late on, and Albin Stureson was FNordic’s top driver in sixth.
It was dry on Sunday morning for the reversed-grid race two. Alexia Danielsson started on pole but was behind Robin Hafstrom and Leveau by the end of lap one. Jakobsen passed her on lap three, and on lap four Leveau and Jakobsen overtook Hafstrom while Danielsson lost fourth to Kristiansen.
On lap six Kristiansen, Pedersen (who started 16th) and Hoe got past Hafstrom as Danielsson sunk even further down the order. Hoe’s retirement a lap later did nothing to help her, and Jakobsen finally broke Leveau’s defences on lap eight.
Jakobsen built a 4.616s lead over the remaining 10 laps, Kristansen held off multiple attacks from Pedersen for third and Bach finished fifth. Hafstrom retired in the pits while running in sixth, so F5 winner Mads Kjelde Larsen inherited the position.
Laerke Ronn Sorensen had to fight his way past Varverud and Stureson to finish seventh.
Jakobsen had race three pole, and took another dominant win. Leveau held off Kristiansen until lap six, when he moved across him at turn one and broke Kristiansen’s front wing. On lap seven Leveau retired, and Bach started attacking Kristiansen. He could not get past, and it allowed Hoe (who started 11th) and Pedersen to close in.
Hoe passed Bach on lap 15 and Kristiansen on his first attempt a lap later, with Kristiansen then going off and retiring. Pedersen cleared Bach on his first attempt on lap 17, then the trio ran in line until the end.
Results round-up [F5 entrants in italics, FR1.6 entrants in bold]
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen STEP Motorsport 20m25.920s
2 Mads Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +12.878s
3 Louis Leveau Team FSP +13.230s
4 Marius Kristiansen Team FSP +13.809s
5 Sebastian Bach STEP Motorsport +14.250s
6 Albin Stureson +21.409s
7 Robin Hafstrom +22.128s
8 Alexia Danielsson Team FSP +22.996s
9 Enzo Hallman +24.264s
10 Mads Kjelde Larsen Mads Hoe Motorsport +24.757s
Pole: Jakobsen, 1m05.392s
Fastest lap: Jakobsen, 1m14.263s
Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Jakobsen 20m09.861s
2 Leveau +4.616s
3 Kristiansen +5.764s
4 Magnus Pedersen MP Racing +6.015s
5 Bach +9.927s
6 Larsen +19.199s
7 Laerke Ronn Sorensen STEP Motorsport +21.648s
8 Stureson +24.102s
9 Daniel Varverud +24.437s
10 Danielsson +25.625s
FL: Jakobsen, 1m05.710s
Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Jakobsen 20m07.739s
2 Hoe +11.448s
3 Pedersen +11.623s
4 Bach +11.877s
5 Sorensen +18.768s
6 Varverud +25.868s
7 Danielsson +26.892s
8 Hafstrom +31.962s
9 Mille Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +32.031s
10 Larsen +36.582s
FL: Jakobsen, 1m06.066s
Championship standings
1 Mads Hoe 152 2 Jakobsen 142 3 Pedersen 127 4 Bach 108 5 Kristiansen 97 6 Leveau 80 7 Sorensen 72 8 Larsen 40 9 Mille Hoe 25 10 Danielsson 23