06/09 – 2019
Race Report: DIF Danish National Championship 2019
NHR Racing Team have like the rest of the other teams been working hard to prepare for the biggest race of the year, the DSK-DIF Danish National Championship in the KZ2 class. However, for NHR Racing Team the event would be overshadowed by mechanical problems and we would end the all-important championship finale before it even started.
Saturday – Practice:
No friday practice meant most of the practice sessions where moved to Saturday. After a promising start for our driver Nicklas Rasmussen the pace and power output from the engine would start to go away with no obvious explanation. The team where also hindered by a water pump failure that cut short one of the sessions.
Saturday – Qualifying:
Qualifying was extremely problematic for Nicklas. On his hot lap he was blocked by another competitor who where not paying attention to his surroundings and he encountered traffic on his following laps. The engine problems where also still getting worse and Nicklas would only 23rd out of 25 drivers in the KZ2 class.
Saturday – Heat Race 1:
In the first and only heat of the day Nicklas would be involved in an accident during the start where he had to avoid slow starting drivers in front of him, but would as a consequence have an out of control driver smash directly over the front end of his kart. The kart was severely damaged and Nicklas right leg had suffered and injury from the collision. However, Nicklas would drag the damaged kart to the finish and finish in 21st place.
After the race Nicklas would have to have his leg checked by the medical team, and despite the injury being quite painful, Nicklas was cleared to race the following day.
Sunday – Heat Race 2:
The team’s luck would go from bad to worse on Sunday starting with the second heat race. Nicklas would suffer a problem with the clutch on the starting grid, causing a stall that would require him to push start the kart of the line after the green flag had dropped, as such the race was just about getting to the finish and so he did, but only in a distant 19th place.
Sunday – Pre Finale:
The result of the pre-finale would set the grid for the all-important championship deciding finale. Nicklas, stating form 20th place would get off to a good start and would make up some positions early in the race. However, the engine problems that the team had endured would now hit another level and the pace would drop off massively. Nicklas would have nothing to do but accept that he would not be able to do anything about it and just try and get to the end once again. Nicklas finished in 19th place and would start the finale from that position.
Sunday – Finale:
Before the finale the problem with the engine was finally diagnosed, however there where not enough time to get it fixed before the finale. A desperate attempt to get some pace in the finale the team would replace the engine with one of the previous spec engines that the team had as a backup. Nicklas would start the finale form 19th place but before the race had even begun, trouble hit once again. On the second formation lap, a water leak appeared from the top of the engine. The problem meant that Nicklas would not even make the start of the race and it would result in a DNS in the finale of the 2019 DIF Danish National Championship.
Nicklas Rasmussen - KZ2 Race Driver:
This race has got to be one of the most difficult and problematic races I’ve ever had. It is very difficult to deal with this result right now, but I also know that we were just plain unlucky and that sometimes you get all the bad luck at oncethis time was one of them. With that being said, I am very grateful for the hard work that the whole team has put into this event, and I am also deeply thankful for all the support that we have got from GP-Racing Denmark. There is not much else to do now then take this a learning experience and put it behind us now. As I’ve always said, there is no rewind button, and hopefully we can take the fight to the next race and get a better result.
Copyright Photo: Dennis B., Karting i Billeder / www.photo-d.com
