Malthe Jakobsen was not even a year old when Tom Kristensen secured his record-equalling sixth victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2004. The Danish endurance legend pulled clear of Jacky Ickx’s tally over the coming years and by 2013 had amassed a remarkable nine in the world’s most famous endurance race, cementing his legacy as ‘Mr Le Mans’ and going a long way to raising the event’s profile at home.
Danish interest in Le Mans hasn’t waned in the years since Kristensen’s retirement and has arguably gone from strength to strength. It had 13 drivers on the entry list this year, including three in the Hypercar class: Nicklas Nielsen (Ferrari), Mikkel Jensen (Peugeot) and Michael Christensen (Porsche) all gunning for outright success. But only one of the Nordic kingdom’s citizens ended up on a podium. That individual was Thisted-born 19-year-old Jakobsen, a Le Mans rookie.
