Michel Nykjær (born 17 September 1979) is a Danish

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver. Nykjær is a two-time

European Touring Car Cup The FIA European Touring Car Cup was an annual touring car racing event, which had been held at various locations across Europe from 2005 to 2017. Unlike in previous years where it was a one-off event, in 2010 the series was a three round event. ...

winner.

Career

Early years

Between 1989 and 1993 he spent his early racing years in karting. After a break, he returned to motorsport in 1998, with saloon cars in the Danish

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing 'standard' large scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specific ...

Championship. He stepped up to the

Danish Touring Car Championship The Danish Touringcar Championship (abbreviated as the DTC) was a touring car racing series in Denmark. The inaugural year for the DTC was 1999, after the huge success in Scandinavia of the British Touring Car Championship. For the first two years ...

in 2003, and was crowned champion in 2007 for SEAT Racing Team, in a

SEAT Leon A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair equ ...

. Also in 2007 he won the

for the

GR Asia GR Asia is an auto racing team based in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. They have raced in the World Touring Car Championship, the European Touring Car Championship and the British Touring Car Championship. In 2006 they won the Independents ...

Team. In 2008 he moved to the Poulsen Motorsport Team in a BMW for another season in the DTC. He defended his ETC Cup title in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

for Chevrolet Motorsport Denmark in a

Chevrolet Lacetti The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled b ...

World Touring Car Championship

Perfection Racing (2009)

For 2009 he was supposed to compete in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

for the Poulsen Motorsport Team in a

BMW 320si The fifth generation of the BMW 3 Series range of compact executive cars is designated under the model codes E90 (saloon), E91 (estate, marketed as 'Touring'), E92 (coupé) and E93 (convertible). The model was introduced in December 2004, and pr ...

but Poulsen chose to run his car for

Engstler Motorsport Engstler Motorsport is a private German auto racing team based in Wiggensbach, run by driver Franz Engstler. It has competed successfully in the Asian Touring Car Championship and the ADAC Procar Series. It is sponsored by lubricants company Liq ...

and Nykjær was forced to remain in the DTC where he retained his title. However, he raced the WTCC round at

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

for

Perfection Racing Perfection Racing is a Danish auto racing team, who currently compete in the Danish Touring Car Championship under the banner of Chevrolet Motorsport Denmark. They are based in Odense and managed by Kent Bo Steffensen. In September 2009 they will e ...

. He attended the

2009 European Touring Car Cup The 2009 FIA European Touring Car Cup was the fifth running of the FIA European Touring Car Cup. It was held on 25 October 2009 at the Circuito Vasco Sameiro near Braga in Portugal. James Thompson won the event after winning the second race. Nor ...

, but lost his crown to James Thompson.

SUNRED Engineering (2010–2011)

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Nykjær raced for

SUNRED Engineering Sunred (short for ''Sun Race Engineering Development S.L.'') is a Spanish-based auto racing team and constructor. They are best known for competing in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing History While in the past Sunred had participated in ...

in the WTCC in a SEAT León 2.0 TDI. He made it into the second part of qualifying for the Race of Morocco when he crashed at turn ten and brought the session to a premature end, his best time put him sixth on the grid. In race one he was battling with

Jordi Gené Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also a ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia Ferr ...

but ran wide and dropped down the field, finishing just outside the points in eleventh. He started on pole position for race two of the Race of Italy and was initially passed by

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He ...

who was then issued with a drive-through penalty. Before Tarquini could serve the penalty, Nykjær re-passed him and led until the final lap of the race he suffered a puncture and pulled off the track, handing the victory to

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...

. In race one of the Race of Belgium he made contact with the

bamboo-engineering Craft-Bamboo Racing is an auto racing team. It was founded in 2014 after the merger of Craft Racing from Hong Kong and Bamboo Engineering from the United Kingdom. Craft Racing was established by Frank Yu in 2009 and was a front running team in ...

car of

Darryl O'Young Darryl Hayden O'Young () is a Canadian-born Hong Kong racing driver. Career Early career O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships. The highlight ...

which left O'Young in the gravel trap while Nykjær finished eighteenth. He failed to make it through to the second part of qualifying for the Race of Portugal and then ran wide when battling with

Norbert Michelisz Norbert Michelisz (born 8 August 1984) is a Hungarian auto racing driver and the 2019 winner of the World Touring Car Cup. Career Early career Michelisz was the 2006 Hungarian Suzuki Swift Cup champion, and in 2007 he won the Hungarian Ren ...

for seventh place in race one. Nykjær was bumped off the circuit by

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

in race two of the Race of Germany, Monteiro was penalised and Nykjær went on to finish fourth. He started on pole position for race two of the Race of Japan and led until lap nine when he slid off in the wet conditions, eventually finished seventh. He was caught up in a first lap incident at the Race of Macau which was originally between

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Touring ...

and

André Couto André Couto (; born 14 December 1976) is a Macanese Nykjær continued in the WTCC with SUNRED for

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In race two of the Race of Brazil he collided with

Kristian Poulsen Kristian Poulsen (born 18 November 1975) is a Danish auto racing driver, who currently competes in touring car racing. Career He made his debut in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2008 with a part season. For 2009 he will compete a ful ...

while the two were fighting over the lead of the independents' category. He qualified in 20th place for the Race of Belgium having not set a time. He had clipped one of the barriers at the chicane and was unable to continue in the session due to damage. He scored points in both races, finished fifth in the second race of the day. Having started the season with the TDI engine, Nykjær switched to the new SUNRED 1.6T engine for the Race of Hungary. The engine change did not yield any points until the following round where Nykjær finished tenth having collided at the first corner in race one. He then started on pole position for race two but was passed by

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...

at the start and then Yvan Muller. By the end of the race he had dropped down to fourth but he still took the independents' victory. He started second for race two of the Race of UK at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

but ended his race on the first lap when he became stuck in the gravel trap at Coppice. He qualified in seventh place for race one of the Race of Japan, on the opening lap he tagged the

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Robert Dahlgren Robert Dahlgren (born 1 December 1979 in Skellefteå) is a Swedish auto racing driver who currently competes for the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. He previously competed in Australia and New Zealand for a single season in the V8 Superca ...

. He was running fourth in the later stages of the race when Muller made a mistake and dropped behind him, giving Nykjær his first overall podium result in the WTCC and the independents' victory. He was the winning independent again in race two when he finished sixth. He didn't score any points in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, crashing out two laps from the end of race one and finished fourteenth in race two. He qualified ahead of most of his rivals for the independents' trophy at the Race of Macau, finishing fifth and claiming the independents' victory in both races. He finished the season second in the

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Drivers' Trophy, two points behind Kristian Poulsen.

Bamboo Engineering (2012)

He was brought in to substitute for

Pasquale di Sabatino Pasquale Di Sabatino (born 20 January 1988, in Atri, Italy, Atri) is a professional Auto racing, racing driver from Italy. He has previously competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series where he was a race winner. He drove in the World Touring Car ...

at bamboo-engineering for the

2012 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil was the eighth round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the FIA WTCC Race of Brazil. It was held on 22 July 2012 at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba in Pinhais, B ...

. He qualified fourth for race one and took the independents' victory in race one by finishing fifth.

NIKA Racing (2013)

He returned to the WTCC full-time in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, driving for

NIKA Racing NIKA racing (short for Nicklas Karlsson Racing) is a Swedish racing team, founded by former racing driver Nicklas Karlsson along with Eric Lindgren which currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship. Before that they competed in the Sca ...

. He dropped out of race one of the Race of Italy early on with driveshaft problems but finished second in race two from third on the grid to take the team's first podium finish in the WTCC. He claimed his first overall victory in the WTCC in race one of the Race of Morocco having started from fourth on the grid. In the week leading up to the

2013 FIA WTCC Race of Japan The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Japan (formally the 2013 FIA WTCC JVC Kenwood Race of Japan) was the tenth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 22 September 2013 at th ...

he left the team citing financial reasons. Michel Nykjær Chevrolet Cruze STCC Ring Knutstorp 2012

Scandinavian Touring Car Championship

Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden (2011–2012)

In 2012 Nykjær was frontrunner in Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, STCC

Racing record

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Scandinavian Touring Car Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete TCR International Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Britcar 24 Hour results

References

External links

Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nykjaer, Michel 1979 births Living people Danish racing drivers Danish Touring Car Championship drivers European Touring Car Cup drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers TCR International Series drivers Britcar 24-hour drivers People from Næstved Municipality Sportspeople from Region Zealand