The 2019 Danish Formula 4 season kicked off at a soggy Padborg Park, and it was series returnee Mikkel Grundtvig that left with the championship lead.

Valdemar Eriksen, the highest placed of last year’s drivers making a return, beat karting graduate Largim Ali to pole, with top Formula 5 entrant Lucas Daugaard just over a second behind in sixth on the grid.

In race one it was fifth paced started Mad Hoe who won though, the reigning Danish F5 champion using a lot of belief to navigate the tricky 2.07km circuit ahead of his rivals on his first F4 start. It was actually Hoe’s fourth win in the championship, having taken three overall wins in his F5 car last year.

Eriksen settled for second, with Jonas Lindhard Nielsen completing the podium. Daugaard took a comfortable F5 class win in fifth, while French F4 racer Grundtvig had a poor race and finished sixth overall.

Grundtvig judged his tyre strategy perfectly in the second race, sticking with his wet tyres on a drying track as Hoe and Eriksen applied pressure from behind. Just 0.819 seconds separated the top two at the chequered flag, with Grundtvig awarded his first win after five second place finishes last year.

Daugaard was once again the top F5 driver, with second placed driver Christoffer Christensen just missing out on a fifth place overall finish.

Grundtvig utilised his race two confidence to win again in the longer race three, beating Nielsen and Eriksen. Hoe struggled to fourth place, a position he almost lost to Ali, and as a result sits three points behind Grundtvig in the standings. Three F5 wins for Daugaard means he has a solid class lead.

Results

Race 1 (16 laps)

1 Mads Hoe Mads Hoe Motorsport 16m28.076s

2 Valdemar Eriksen Valdemar Eriksen Racing +2.152s

3 Jonas Lindhard Nielsen Lindhard Motorsport +5.994s

4 Largim Ali Team FSP +10.109s

5 Lucas Daugaard Daugaard Racing +31.061s

6 Mikkel Grundtvig Apex Racing +40.604s

7 Niels Ejnar Rytter +43.816s

8 Christoffer Christensen Mads Hoe Motorsport +50.715s

9 Line Sonderskov Sonderskov Motorsport +59.154s

Pole: Eriksen, 59.948s

Fastest lap: Grundtvig, 59.883s

Race 2 (14 laps)

1 Grundtvig 16m13.740s

2 Hoe +0.819s

3 Eriksen +2.866s

4 Daugaard +25.858s

5 Nielsen +44.404s

6 Christensen +45.050s

7 Ali +45.521s

8 Rytter +1m10.566s

9 Sonderskov +1 lap

FL: Hoe, 1m05.408s

Race 3 (16 laps)

1 Grundtvig 16m28.572s

2 Nielsen +2.823s

3 Eriksen +7.630s

4 Hoe +8.134s

5 Ali +8.479s

6 Daugaard +37.329s

7 Rytter +46.225s

8 Christensen +46.793s

9 Sonderskov +47.784s

FL: Grundtvig, 59.852s

F4 standings 1?Grundtvig 60? ?2?Hoe 57? ?3 Eriksen 48? ?4 Nielsen 45? ?5 Ali 32

F5 standings?1 Daugaard 75? ?2 Rytter 51? ?3 Christensen 48? ?4 Sonderskov 36