Michel Nykjaer leaves Europe as second in the standings

Danish driver Michel Nykjaer leaves the European leg of the 2013 World Touring Car Car Championship season a clear second in the drivers’ championship after scoring the most points in Portugal.

The Nika Racing driver took two third place finishes at Porto in the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T which he raced last year in Sweden, and now has a small gap to the close fought battle for third in the drivers’ standings between bamboo’s James Nash, Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff and Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini.

In race one Nykjaer, running a tribute to countryman Allan Simonsen on his car at the meeting, followed the two RML Cruzes in a steady race to take third and the Yokohama Trophy class win, whilst all the excitement was reserved for race two, moving up three positions to claim another podium result and retain the lead of the Yokohama Trophy with title rival James Nash taking the overall victory.

“The feeling is good. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be on the podium in both races,” said Nykjaer to TouringCarTimes. “I made a good start (in race two) and got past Oriola, and then passed Thompson in Turn 19 and then Basseng at the same place, so had a good fight in the races.”

Nykjaer then became stuck behind Münnich’s Rob Huff who was struggling with a braking issue thoughout the last three-quarters of the race, but despite this the Dane was unable to get past and instead settled for third.

“Rob said something about his brakes were destroyed…I initially thought he (was slow) because Basseng was behind me so he could try and get back past me. He closed the door in every corner where I could have passed, of course I could have pushed some more if I wasn’t thinking about the Championship.”

Nykjaer now sits 122 points behind runaway points leader Yvan Muller but enjoys a 22 point lead over James Nash in the overall standings and a slender four point lead over Nash in the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy.

“One month before the year I didn’t know if I was going to drive, so to be second in the World Championship after half the season is totally fantastic. We hope to get sponsors together so we can go for the rest of the season, as of course we want to go to the end and be in the Championship,” added Nykjaer.

The reigning STCC manufacturers’ champions, and one of the few teams along with Campos, Proteam and Special Tuning Racing which have additional cars which are likely to be popular targets for drivers for the new WTCC Asian Trophy, now head to South America for the WTCC’s first appearance in Argentina.