Jakobsen ‘So Close, Still So Far’ in LMP2 Danish Duel

Rolex 24 at Daytona LMP2 runner-up Malthe Jakobsen said his compatriot Christian Rasmussen deserved to come away with the class victory after the two engaged in a Danish duel in the closing stint of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

Jakobsen, piloting the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 Gibson alongside George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Toby Sowery, came up short in 62nd running of the Florida endurance classic and finished the race 6.8 seconds behind Era Motorsport driver Rasmussen.

The 20-year-old appeared to have a strong shot at the class win when the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson caught fire at pit exit and triggered a full course caution within the final hour of the race.

This brought Jakobsen within striking distance of his fellow Dane, who shared the No. 18 Oreca with Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch, although he ultimately was not able to pass him.

“Christian and the whole Era team were super fast the whole race,” Jakobsen told Sportscar365.

“Especially here, I would say since the sunrise, me and Colin, we were leading at some point and then they got past us and we were swapping around all the time. But they had a slight advantage on fuel, so when it got equaled out, they were in front.”

Jakobsen challenged Rasmussen by attempting an overtaking maneuver into the International Horseshoe, but instead accidentally tagged the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Jesse Krohn into a spin.

“On the last restart, I actually got away quite good,” Jakobsen said.

“And then I tried to go [on] the inside in Turn 3, but it didn’t work out because I had a slight contact with the BMW in front. I had to avoid him, and then Christian went by.”

The Algarve Pro Racing-run No. 04 Oreca then closed to within a second of Rasmussen before dropping off, giving Era the necessary breathing room to secure a second LMP2 class win at Daytona.

“I feel like the first five laps or so, it was sort of okay,” said Jakobsen. “I could almost keep up with him. But then the tire deg was just too much for us.

“In the beginning it was a bit like elastic, it was like plus minus, plus minus. And then whenever the traffic started to arrive and our tire deg went down, he was just super fast today. So they deserve it.

“So close at the end and then still so far off. That’s racing. We tried and fought for it.”

Rasmussen, for his part, said that the No. 04 car was “the car to beat” in the LMP2 category but felt that he had the speed to pull away from Jakobsen even after the late caution wiped out a substantial gap between the two cars.

“They were definitely the closest all race long, really,” he said.

“We knew we had a slight advantage over them. So, it was really about whenever we still had  four or five hours left, it was just about keeping our noses clean and being there at the end.

“And then the last stint came down to a caution. I had a huge gap, like 15 seconds. Obviously, all of that disappeared. But I felt fairly confident.

“I was just slowly pulling away right before. I kind of knew that we had the pace to do it.

“So, it was just about getting away from the start, which I did well and then pulled out a two-second gap and just kind of managed it from there.”