The Danish Touring Car Champion is victorious in the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup: Guest entrant Casper Elgaard won the seventh round of the Polo Cup – marked by lots of duels – at the Nürburgring.
After the Dane had been fighting hard for the top position with Cup leader Jimmy Johansson as early as in the qualifying session, the seasoned racer overtook the Swedish talent in the race’s eighth lap to defend the lead all the way to the finish. As the best German driver, 18-year-old Niclas Kentenich from Neuss took the third position on the podium. Whereas Casper Elgaard put a clear distance between himself and his father, Peter – the former DTM driver – (19th place), the second father-son duel had a close outcome: It wasn’t until the eleventh lap that the former DTM Champion Kurt Thiim overtook his 17-year-old son, Nicki, to finish fifth behind the Swede Patrik Olsson.
“This was outstanding motorsport with many tough but fair duels. My thanks to our guest entrants and compliments to our young drivers,” praised Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “Casper Elgaard and Kurt Thiim are top-class professional racers. The fact that our drivers are able to fight with them on a par is evidence of the high level of driving skills and enormous balance found in the Polo Cup.”
Pole-sitter Johansson and Elgaard fought a long duel for the lead. “On the first laps I was able to study Jimmy’s line very well and carefully consider where to attack,” related Elgaard. Door to door, the two went through several corners until the 28-year-old Dane prevailed. “That was a great race and a fair sporting contest with Johansson. Running as a guest entrant has been great fun for me.” Jimmy Johansson was not able to continue his streak of four consecutive wins in the most recent races. “Casper was unbeatable for me today. For the Championship, though, a full points score was all the more valuable,” stated the 22-year-old who, thanks to his major points advantage, may be able to secure the Champion’s title as early as in the next race at Zandvoort.
The field directly behind the front runners saw a tough fight for the other places which Niclas Kentenich decided in his favour against Patrik Olsson and Kurt Thiim. “Although there’s no more chance of winning the Championship, the fight for the title of the runner-up is still on,” said Kentenich, who is now ranking fourth in the overall standings. 17-year-old Nicki Thiim claimed seventh place in his touring car debut behind Markus Grünewald (Sonneberg). “I’m very proud of my son, after all this was his first Nürburgring race. My thanks to Volkswagen for this guest stint,” said Kurt Thiim.
Ranking in 14th place overall, Sebastian Voges from Beckum finished as the best newcomer for the second time, now leading the “rookie” standings.
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