Nykjaer leaves Morocco a winner and second in the standings

33-year-old Michel Nykjaer’s return to the World Touring Car Championship after a year in Sweden hit a high at Morocco, with the Dane taking his first career victory and the first for the Nika Racing team in the Championship. A good points haul from the weekend also sees him sitting in second in the drivers’ standings, tied with Gabriele Tarquini.

Nykjaer had qualified in fourth place, like Muller he had been help up on his final qualifying run by traffic, but was able to make up two positions at the start to chase the Honda of Gabriele Tarquini throughout the first part of race one.

“I had a really good start. In 2010, Xavier Serra from SEAT Sport, my chief engineer, told me how to start on this track, and I just did what he taught me,” said Nykjaer to TouringCarTimes. “I could see (James) Nash was going behind Tarquini for a safe second position but I knew if I had the outside for the second turn I would have the place.

“After that I had to push Tarquini and do everything I can to try and pass him but it was not easy. He then made a mistake in the first chicane and after that he tried to block my way on the inside but I was able to pass.”

In race two, things didn’t go as well at the start, but Nykjaer was able to take a vital points finish in an incident packed race which just saw 14 cars from the 23 entered for the event cross the finish line at the chequered flag.

“I had a very bad start, I think my clutch slipped and we had some problem, so I was the in the middle of the field and it was chaotic. Still I was able to gain some places and finished P7…to be P7 after the bad start I can be thankful for that.”

Nykjaer’s now 37 points behind Yvan Muller in the drivers’ standings, and second in the Yokohama Trophy for independent drivers, six points behind James Nash, heading to Slovakia, where the Dane hasn’t raced before.

“To be an independent team, it’s nice to come away from here P2 overall in the Championship,” added Nykjaer.