Soon I’m driving the Formula Renault BARC race at Rockingham which I’m very much looking forward too! Rockingham is different to most other British circuits because it’s build as an oval for the American series Indy Car and Nascar in an attempt to bring the sport to Europe. The circuit used by the Formula Renault championship is of cause not just an oval. The pits is the same though and we do use about a third of the oval. The rest of the track is inside the oval and contains many tricky corners which is a real challenge for me as I’ve done just one test on the circuit. My test there went well though and with new tires and a lap free of trafic and mistakes the data showed I could be right at the front in the dry. I didn’t get to try the circuit in wet conditions in which I have been struggeling this year. My first wet session on each circuit always seems to be in qualifying like on Snetterton and Silverstone. I will do all the preparations possible for me to be quick in the wet as well though, but nothing beats testing and this I can’t afford.  

Also I’m moving back to Denmark after the race. I have been working for Antel the past three months. I have learned a lot about the car and being on the other side of the pitwall, but now I want to focus more on my driving and fitness. I think it was very good experience for me as I got to know the team and improve my English speaking and communication with the team in general. It has also given me a good repect and appreciation of the whole team, they all work really hard and many late nights to get our cars ready to race.

After having driven a dry Friday test it was time to bolt wets on Kasper’s Formula Renault for the first qualifying. With no more than 20 minutes to learn the two miles Snetterton Circuit in wet conditions it came down to a slightly disappointing 10^th starting position for the first race. For the second qualifying the rain had left a wet circuit which was starting to dry up as the session started. This time Kasper was running 8^th until he decided that the track was dry enough for slicks. With only seven or eight minutes left of the session Kasper came into the pit lane to change tyres. The team got busy changing tyres which, as always with Antel Motorsport, happened very quickly but then they discovered that an oil hose had come off and by the time Kasper was able to rejoin the session on new and very slippery slicks there was only a few minutes left of the qualifying. Kasper managed to put in a good first lap which sent him to fourth position but on the second lap the gear cable snapped and Kasper had to finish the lap and go to the pits in second gear.     

When the 17 Formula Renaults Sunday headed out to a dry grid for the first race Kasper and the team was convinced that they had the speed to be in the top five. Kasper made a good start but struggled to make up any positions starting from the outside. After the first lap Kasper was still running 10^th and as he attempted to overtake Jake Rattenbury into the Esses he was suprised by Kourosh Khani who saw his opportunity to get passed both of them. Being caught between the two cars Kasper had no choice but to follow them which then meant that he got a poor exit from the right-hander which followed. This gave Andrew Jarman an opportunity to get passed Kasper too. Kasper was able to recover quickly by overtaking Jarman on the next lap after which he was closing in on Rattenbury by half a second per lap and on lap ten was able to get by him too. Meanwhile there was quite a gap up to Khani and although Kasper was closing the gap fast he crossed the line after the 14 laps in 8^th one second behind Khani.

After the race Kasper said: “I was surprised to only be 7^th fastest in the race. In the Friday test our lap times looked promising. The starting position for the second race is going to help me a lot but if the top five is just as much faster in the second race I will struggle to hold 4^th place.”

It was important for Kasper to get a good get away for the second race with the experienced Alice Powell starting just behind him. As the red lights came off Kasper made a quick start and held on to 4^th in the first two corners where everybody was staying to the inside. Down the long back straight top five was very close and they all kept to the inside being defensive down towards the left-right combination “Esses” where Kasper in the last moment pulled out of the line to try to overtake the winner of the first race Joseph Reilly. Kasper made the move stick on the outside in turn three and shortly after closed the door for Reilly as the track changed direction. Kasper didn’t have the pace to hold the super fast Reilly behind him for more than three laps though. The pressure from behind did not disappear with Reilly because now Kasper had the two Hillspeed drivers Alice Powell and James Theodore in the mirrors. Even though they were both quite a lot faster than Kasper, he managed to fend them off for the next eight laps.

Towards the end of the race Kasper’s rear tyres gradually got less grip which nearly resulted in a spin in “Esses”, due to which he got a really bad exit out of the right-hander making it possible for Powell to get alongside of Kasper. They now drove side by side through the next two very fast corners with Kasper on the outside and braking into the chicane Kasper had no other choice than to fall in behind Powell to prevent Theodore to pass as well. But within the next lap Theodore also got by and with only one lap to go and a big gap down to Josh Webster in seventh, Kasper took the chequered flag in a solid sixth position.

Of course an 8^th and a 6^th position was not the result we had hoped to go home with, but it did give some good championship points and Kasper achieved a combined 6^th overall for the weekend which is his best score this season. It is a step forward and in the points table Kasper has now moved up to 8^th overall.

We are now looking forward to the next race meeting at Rockingham the 11 and 12 September, where hopefully Kasper will have the pace to compete with the top five again.

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After making some adjustments to the car after qualifying, Kasper looked immediately more comfortable in the car from the moment the lights went out for race one. He made a solid getaway from the line, and then proceeded to pick off the cars infront of him one by one, starting with a great move on the exit of turn 2.
He was lapping 3rd quickest on his way through the pack, and shortly after taking 6th position from Championship leader Mitchell Hale, the safety car came out. This was perfect timing for Kasper to close on to the back of the leading pack. When the safety car came back in, there were four laps of the race remaining. Kasper then began pressurising the cars in front, with only the race leader lapping quicker than him in free air. As the two drivers in 4th and 5th scrapped with each other, he capitalised and passed the both of them to leave him just one place away from his first podium. Although he was catching 3rd place, there was not enough time left for him to make a move. He crossed the line to grab 4th place, his best finish so far in BARC Renault, and a fantastic drive from 9th on the grid.
Kasper was delighted to have made such progress through the pack;
The race was one of my best with a lot of exciting battles as I made my way through the field. Obviously I was not very happy starting 9th but we had improved a lot already for the second qualifying so I knew that the pace should be good for the race.  I certainly enjoyed the race very much and was very comfortable in the car which felt fast and easy to drive at the same time.  

The team had high hopes of a possible podium for Kasper in race two, but again it would have to be a storming drive from P8, but now he was fully in tune with the Croft circuit, they knew he had the outright pace to achieve it.
After making another strong start to the race, and lapping very quickly in 6th place, Kasper had some disappointing misfortune which would put an end to his hopes of a podium. Whilst battling for 5th place, Kasper had the slightest of touches with the rear end of the car in front. This damaged his front wing to such an extent that his front end grip was gone. He could no longer set the impressive pace which he had been previously, and he began to drop through the pack and outside the top 10 with an almost un-driveable car.
The ups and downs of motorsport had hit Kasper once again at Croft, but there were many positives to take from the weekend. He and his team now look forward to Round 4 of the Championship at Snetterton, with all fingers crossed that he can return with his first of many podiums!