15/08-2023
Race Preview: DKL Grand Prix Vojens 2023
The second and final round of the Danish Karting League, takes place at the Vojens Motorsports Arena. The event named “Grand Prix Vojens” will have free practice sessions on Friday, September 1st, and the racing itself take place on Saturday, September 2nd. Nicklas Rasmussen – KZ2 Race driver:The Vojens Motorsports Arena is one of my favorite venues that we go to this year. That track is fast, flowing, and provides great opportunities for overtaking. I really do look forward to racing, however it will also be a big challenge for me personally, since I am still dealing with my ribcage injury. Two weeks ago, I was able to compete at the regional championship despite the injury, however it was obviously quite suboptimal. I expect that this time, it will be much the same, but I will give it everything I have got and see what we can get out of it.Experience the event live!The event will be open for spectators both for the free practice sessions on Friday and the racing on Saturday. If you can't be there in person the event will also be broadcasted live on "Sport live" and shown later on "Pluto TV"For more information on the Danish Karting League go to their website: https://danishkartingleague.dk/en/ 
Copyright Photo: Dennis B., Karting i Billeder / www.photo-d.com"
15/08-2023
Race Report: DIF Danish National Championship 2023
The official Danish national karting championship is the most prestigious event of the year. This year the event would take place at the Midtjysk Karting Circuit (Ikast) and would feature a full grid of 34 karts in the KZ2 class for the first time in many years. GP-NHR Racing Team participated with Nicklas Rasmussen as driver.
KZ2 was also the only class where an official national title was on the line since the OK class got cancelled due to lack of signups.
Friday - Practice:
The Friday practice sessions went well to begin with for the team, and progress was made with the setup. However, some issues remained, especially with issues getting the tires working and a general lack of consistent grip. The last few sessions where the team planed for some laps on fresh tires were also interrupted with some mechanical issues, leaving the team on the backfoot going into Saturday’s qualifying and heat races.
Saturday - Qualifying:
The technical issues were solved before qualifying however without any prior laps on new tires it was a tricky session for the team and Nicklas Rasmussen. Nicklas struggled to get the tires proper “switched on” during the session and never got a clean lap in without traffic. Nicklas qualified in 28th place and would start in that place for the upcoming heat races.
Saturday – Heat Race 1:
Nicklas had a strong first heat of the day and moved up to 17th place early in the race. The team had made some setup changes to the kart that had a positive effect, especially in the beginning phases of the heat. However, the pace would fade latter in the heat and Nicklas would drop back slightly to 23rd place.
Saturday – Heat Race 2
In the second heat race, Nicklas would unfortunately get involved in a collision on lap one. The kart sustained some damage from the collision that severely affected the handling. Despite this, Nicklas would attempt to finish the heat and salvage a few points. He made it about halfway before he suffered a puncture because of a damaged wheel-rim from the collision and retired from the heat.
Saturday - Heat Race 3
The team’s mechanic made a heroic effort to fix the damaged kart in time for the final heat race of the day. The team only just made it onto the grid in time for the heat, and also managed to change some of the parts on the kart to adjust the setup.
The heat race itself went decent, and while the setup changes still needed work, it was now clear in which setup direction to head. Nicklas finished the heat in a solid 20th place.
Sunday - Pre-Finale
The result of the pre-finale sets the starting grid for the championship deciding finale later in the day. The pre-finale was thrown into chaos as a sudden rain shower hit, just before the scheduled start time. Rain tires were fitted, but there was no time to adjust the setup. Nicklas started from 27th place and had some good early pace, however he lost out a little in the early laps with drivers battling for position.
However, the track soon started to dry out fast and the rain tires severely overheated. Despite some decent late race pace, it was a little to late for Nicklas to catch up to the karts ahead. Nicklas would finish the pre-final in 23rd place but was moved down one place to 24th place due to a 5-second penalty for a pushed in front bumper.
Sunday - Finale
Nicklas would start the championship deciding finale form 24th place on the grid. The track was dry, and everyone was on slick tires. Nicklas had a great few opening laps and moved up to 18th place. The setup on the kart was working well, however due to being pushed a bit from a driver behind Nicklas would drop some positions a few laps later.
However, the race would soon be thrown into total chaos as it started to rain heavily with everyone on slick tires. Grip completely vanished and just keeping the kart on the track, let alone racing at the same time, was insanely challenging. At one point in the race, Nicklas only just avoid a competitor who lost control in front, where Nicklas deliberately went off track on to the grass to avoid a race ending collision. As the race progressed, Nicklas enjoyed some strong pace. Despite the very challenging conditions, he made quite a few overtakes. At the end of the finale, Nicklas would cross the finish line and finish the official Danish national championship in a strong 15th place.
Nicklas Rasmussen - KZ2 Race Driver
Overall, I think we can be happy with how the weekend went. We had some mixed heat races, where I made some good overtakes and did quite well in general. But I also made some mistakes, especially in the second heat race where I would say that the collision that I was involved in, manly was my fault.
The finale is however where it really counts, and this one will go down as one I will never forget. When the rain hit the track around mid-race, a KZ2 kart on slick tires gets ridiculously tricky to drive, as you have no grip and a lot of engine power to control. I distinctly remember two moments in the race where I totally lost all grip and thought to myself, “yeah that’s it, I’m going in the gravel trap”. Luckily, I somehow managed to regain control and keep the kart on the track - well, mostly on the track.
I would like to thank the team for their continued effort and dedication. I think we can be proud of our top-15 in the national championship, as competing at this level is very hard, and results like this deserved to be celebrated. A huge thanks also goes out to GP-Racing Denmark for the fantastic support that they gave us through the weekend.
Copyright Photo: Dennis B., Karting i Billeder / www.photo-d.com"
20/04-2023
Race Report: DKL Grand Prix Rødby 2023
The dawn of a new era in Danish Karting began with the first ever Danish Karting League event. The race would take place at the Rødby International Karting Ring that will also host round three of the CIK-FIA European Championship in the OK & OKJ category later in the year. A total of 19 drivers would take part in the KZ2 class and GP-NHR Racing Team participated with Nicklas Rasmussen as driver.
Friday - Practice:
The practice sessions on Friday was effected by rain for most of the day. As the weather forecast predicted dry conditions for Saturday it was difficult to get any representative laps in during the day.
Saturday - Qualifying:
During the morning worm up sessions the track would dry out and when the time came for the qualifying session the track would be completely dry. Despite his best effort, Nicklas would only qualify in 18th place out of the 19 drivers, meaning he would start in that position in the heat races.
Saturday – Heat Race 1:
Nicklas had some clutch issues and did not get an optimal start. During the opening laps of the heat, Nicklas would stick with the pack ahead but later he would fall back a bit. Nicklas would finish the heat in 17th place.
Saturday – Heat Race 2:
In the second heat race the team had made some changes to the kart to find more performance. Nicklas got off to a decent start this time, however into turn 3 he had to take immediate action to avoid a collision with another driver who spun. Nicklas' only option was to go off the track and onto the grass. This cost a lot of time and even though the race pace had improved slightly he was unable to close up to the other drivers again.
Saturday – Finale:
Nicklas would start from the back of the grid. Nicklas made a good start and going into Turn 3 he would make up two positions round the outside of two other competitors. During the entirety of the finale, the race pace of the kart was consistent yet still lacking the desired performance. Nicklas would finish the finale in 17th place.
Nicklas Rasmussen - KZ2 Race Driver:
Okay let's be honest, the lack of pace was quite apparent and today we failed to reach our expectations. However this is where we are at the moment and we need to build on this. The motivation and optimismen is still very much here in the team and I see a lot of potenital from us. I am very sure that we will only get better from this point, but we will need a few more races to get to where we want.
If we look at some of the positives that may not have been directly visible, then our TM-R1 engine ran very well all day and we did not suffer from any mechanical issues. This gave us a lot of valuable track time that we really needed. As I said today's result did not meet our expectations but this personally motivates me to work even harder and come back stronger next time!
Copyright Photo: Dennis B., Karting i Billeder / www.photo-d.com"
