Photo: Grippo
Team BAR’s Mikkel Pedersen pipped MP Racing’s Magnus Pedersen to the Danish Formula 4 title in the Jyllandsringen finale.
The pair entered the weekend split by 42 points, and in practice Magnus had the advantage although it was Team FormulaSport’s Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen who set by the pace by a massive 0.663 seconds on a track that takes less than 68s to complete.
Once again the series was on track with the Formula Renault 1.6-spec Formula Nordic series and Linus Granfors was the top FNordic runner, 1.044s off the pace.
Mikkel Pedersen set a 1m07.163s in qualifying to beat Jakobsen to pole by 0.302s, with Magnus Pedersen third fastest.
There was an immediate twist in the title fight on lap one of race one as Mikkel Pedersen was eliminated in a crash with Jakobsen, who took the lead ahead of Magnus Pedersen and Victor Nielsen. Pedersen took the lead on lap three and pulled away to take a dominant win, as a 10s stop-go penalty left Jakobsen down in a lapped 25th.
Leo Robinson had to hold off Formula 5 winner Mads Hoe to finish third overall, and Granfors comfortably took the FNordic win in seventh.
The results not only reduced Mikkel Pedersen’s championship lead to 17 points, but meant he started race two from 27th on the grid while Jakobsen had pole courtesy of setting the race one fastest lap. Magnus Pedersen was second on the grid, ahead of Hoe and Oscar Wurz.
More drama followed, with Jakobsen winning, Hoe retiring on lap four, Mikkel Pedersen charging through to finish seventh – with a three-second penalty for hitting another driver ultimately having no impact – while Magnus Pedersen picked up front wing damage from an early clash and finished eighth. He was passed by his rival with a few laps to go, and it meant the gap between them grew to 19 points.
FNordic competitor Olav Vlaa got a penalty for jumping the start but failed to take it, then was disqualified for ignoring the penalty signal. After driving past the black flag for seven laps, they were then disqualified from the whole meeting.
The average of the first two races’ results set the race three grid, putting Robinson on pole. Magnus Pedersen was fourth, Jakobsen was 12th and Mikkel Pedersen was 17th.
Magnus Pedersen had to win to take the title, and he raced into the lead on lap one. FNordic driver Christer Otterstrom went from sixth to second, Jakobsen jumped up to fourth and Mikkel Pedersen got into seventh.
Robinson gained a place back from Otterstrom and stayed in second until the finish, unable to challenge Pedersen, and Jakobsen got into third on lap three. Mikkel Pedersen ran as high as fourth but finished fifth after being passed by Nielsen, which was still enough to become champion by four points.
Oliver Kratsch was the F5 winner in races two and three.
Results round-up [F5 entrants in italics, FR1.6 entrants in bold]
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Magnus Pedersen MP Racing 16m33.204s
2 Victor Nielsen STEP Motorsport +7.393s
3 Leo Robinson STEP Motorsport +7.906s
4 Mads Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +8.152s
5 Oscar Wurz STEP Motorsport +11.787s
6 Marius Kristiansen Team FSP +12.460s
7 Linus Granfors Granforce Racing +15.331s
8 Christer Otterstrom RPC Motorsport +19.873s
9 Oscar Pedersen +20.457s
10 Laerke Ronn Sorensen LR Racing +22.214s
Pole: Mikkel Pedersen, 1m07.163s
Fastest lap: Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen, 1m07.025s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Jakobsen Team FormulaSport 16m10.320s
2 Wurz +7.573s
3 Robinson +8.873s
4 Nielsen +12.817s
5 Otterstrom +13.333s
6 Granfors +13.593s
7 Mikkel Pedersen Team BAR +24.470s
8 Magnus Pedersen +27.265s
9 Oliver Kratsch Mads Hoe Motorsport +29.427s
10 Sorensen +29.702s
FL: Mikkel Pedersen, 1m07.690s
Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Magnus Pedersen 16m28.009s
2 Robinson +2.113s
3 Jakobsen +16.849s
4 Nielsen +23.136s
5 Mikkel Pedersen +25.009s
6 Kristiansen +26.337s
7 Wurz +26.704s
8 Louis Leveau Team FSP +41.947s
9 Daniel Varverud +54.897s
10 Peter Saltvedt Saltvedt Racing +1m03.857s
FL: Robinson, 1m07.886s
Championship standings
1 Mikkel Pedersen 279 2 Magnus Pedersen 275 3 Jakobsen 217 4 Robinson 165 5 Nielsen 155 6 Mads Hoe 134 5 Robinson 165 7 Theodor Jensen 112 8 Kratsch 87 9 Mille Hoe 74 10 Frederik Stena 65