Jan Magnussen secures triple win in TCR Denmark opener

Jan Magnussen opened up his TCR Denmark season with a perfect performance on race day at Ring Djursland with three wins from three races.

The LM Racing driver had scored pole position in qualifying at the wheel of his Cupra Leon Competición cars and then converted it into victory in race one ahead of team-mate Nicolai Sylvest.

The first six drivers would finish as they had started in a race that was largely static at the front, with Casper Elgaard completing the podium and reigning champion Kasper H. Jensen keeping Jacob Mathiassen at bay to secure fourth spot.

Michael Markussen was sixth with Michael Carlsen in seventh after getting ahead of René Povlsen.

Although the race was straightforward out front, that wasn’t the case further back with an incident at the start knocking out three cars.

Philip Lindberg’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta stalled and was hit by Allan Kristensen’s Volkswagen Golf, which was then collected by the Cupra of Kim Lund and the Honda Civic of Kenn Bach.

Only Bach was able to continue and he then started from pole in the reverse grid second race.

Bach would lead for the opening lap before the faster drivers moved ahead with Jensen and Magnussen, who were sixth and ninth on the grid, quickly making their way to the front.

Jensen led from the second to the fourth lap, before Magnussen passed him on lap five and went to claim his second victory of the day.

Behind the two leaders, Markussen followed in third position for much of the race before Elgaard managed to overtake him to secure the final spot on the podium. Markussen then had defend fourth place from the attacks of Mathiassen, who eventually had to settle for fifth.

Sylvest retired after contact and did not start race three as a result.

The third race was another lights-to-flag win for Magnussen, who started from the pole on a grid determined by the points scored in the first two races.

He led from Jensen and Elgaard at the start, while Mathiassen made a better getaway than Markussen and moved into fourth.

It would again remain static out front, with the only change seeing Carlsen take fifth from Markussen on lap three.

Kenn Bach, Gustav Birch and René Povlsen finished behind Markussen.

The championship will resume at Jyllandsringen on July 3/4 with Magnussen holding a 28-point lead in the standings over Kasper H. Jensen.