Photo: Formel 4.dk
Team BAR’s Mikkel Pedersen won twice at Padborg Park to leave round one of the Danish Formula 4 season as points leader.
Theodor Jensen topped qualifying by 0.293 seconds over Pedersen, but after missing the drivers’ briefing the latter got a four-place grid penalty for race one so started sixth.
Jensen led without issue into the opening corner, while Magnus Pedersen started strongly from fourth and tried to go down the inside of Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen for second into the turn one/two hairpin. Instead it left him leaving the corner side-by-side with front row starter Victor Nielsen and dropping back to fourth.
But Nielsen then locked up and Pedersen went back past, so he then dived down his inside at the turn six right-hander. The outcome was Pedersen stayed in fourth, while Mikkel Pedersen and Formula 5 runner Mads Hoe passed Nielsen before the end of the lap.
Magnus Pedersen’s third place was short-lived as Mikkel passed him into turn one on lap two, and later in the lap Nielsen reclaimed fifth from Hoe.
Jensen had a lead of 0.6s over Jakobsen, with Mikkel Pedersen 3.8s behind. The gap between the top two remained stable, but Pedersen closed in and was 1.34s off the lead after seven laps. It was a sub-second gap after nine laps, but then increased the lap after as Jakobsen increased his pressure on Jensen.
It culminated on the penultimate lap as a backmarker to be lapped brought the top three fully together. The positions remained the same though, and Jensen won the 16-lapper by 0.517s over Jakobsen.
The next best battle was Morten Stromsted’s chase of Frederik Stena for seventh. Stena held him at bay for three laps and several side-by-side moments, then Stromsted finally made a move on the straight to the turns 7/8 chicane. But he then spun at the long turn nine left-hander and dropped to 10th while Stena secured seventh.
The reversed-grid race two was dramatic from the off, with Stena taking the lead into turn one but running deep and going off, forcing Hoe off too. While Hoe rejoined, Stena got stuck in the dirt and the safety car was summoned.
Magnus Pedersen inherited the lead ahead of Nielsen and Mikkel Pedersen, and racing resumed on lap four of 14.
Nielsen dived down the inside of the leader at turn one on lap five, using the grass inside of the corner before hitting Pedersen. He still took the lead at turn three though, and built a gap of 1.835s after Mikkel Pedersen made a failed diving move on Magnus at turn nine.
Pedersen tried the turn one grass move on lap nine after his namesake defended, and this time got ahead. After that he had 2.5s to close up to Nielsen, and took the lead on the penultimate lap after six corners of going side-by-side.
The racing stayed super close behind, with Jakobsen forcing his way past Jensen for fourth. He later collided with the third-placed Pedersen, briefly going airborne, but their positions went unchanged. Hoe tried to take advantage by overtaking Jensen behind, but ended up dropping to ninth on the last lap.
Mikkel Pedersen started from pole for race three and had to defend from Jensen at turn one. After that he was unchallenged, but when Jakobsen tried to go down the inside of Jensen at the last corner of lap five he made contact and spun them both round.
The safety car came out, and racing resumed on the 11th and final lap, oddly from a standing restart. Pedersen led home Magnus Pedersen and Hoe, who had passed Nielsen just before the safety car came out.
Results round-up [F5 entrants in italics]
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Theodor Jensen Team FormulaSport 16m26.437s
2 Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen Team FormulaSport +0.517s
3 Mikkel Pedersen Team BAR +0.983s
4 Magnus Pedersen MP Racing +9.951s
5 Victor Nielsen STEP Motorsport +10.445s
6 Mads Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +11.900s
7 Frederik Stena SD Racing +46.771s
8 Oliver Kratsch Mads Hoe Motorsport +53.649s
9 Mille Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport +59.064s
10 Morten Stromsted Team FormulaSport +1m01.934s
Pole: Jensen, 59.674s
Fastest lap: Mikkel Pedersen, 59.638s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Mikkel Pedersen 16m33.235s
2 Nielsen +1.627s
3 Magnus Pedersen +3.999s
4 Jakobsen +4.036s
5 Jensen +5.285s
6 Mille Hoe +27.158s
7 Stromsted +28.017s
8 Niels Ejnar Rytter Rytteriet +31.803s
9 Mads Hoe +34.685s
10 Line Sonderskov Sonderskov Motorsport +48.140s
FL: Mikkel Pedersen, 1m00.560s
Race 3 (11 laps)
1 Mikkel Pedersen 16m47.724s
2 Magnus Pedersen +0.473s
3 Mads Hoe +1.606s
4 Nielsen +2.540s
5 Mille Hoe +5.778s
6 Stena +6.152s
7 Kratsch +8.885s
8 Stromsted +9.281s
9 Rytter +9.570s
10 Sonderskov +10.305s
FL: Mikkel Pedersen, 1m00.863s
Championship standings
1 Mikkel Pedersen 65 2 Magnus Pedersen 45 3 Nielsen 40 4 Jensen 35 5 Jakobsen 30 6 Mads Hoe 25 7 Mille Hoe 20 8 Stena 14 9 Stromsted 11 10 Kratsch 10