US Racing and Van Amersfoort Racing were the two dominant teams when the second race weekend of the year was held at Lausitzring for ADAC Formula 4.
The two teams took 7 out of 9 podium places this weekend, but it wasn’t only one driver who ran away with everything.
US Racing started the weekend by qualifying 1-2-3-4 for race 1. Kim Luis Schramm was the guy in Pole Position, followed by Nicklas Nielsen and Fabio Scherer. The Team quickly got other things to think about, when the scrutineers found some non-conforming things around the suspension of the team cars. The scrutineers first decided to exclude all four US Racing cars, but the team, owned by Gerhard Ungar and Ralf Schumacher, put a protest against that. By doing that they kept their starting position and could continue racing for the weekend – with the possibility of losing all points from this race weekend, in case they lost their appeal.
The 19 year-old Kim Luis Schramm lead race 1 from start to finish, while Kami Laliberte (Van Amersfoort Racing) made it up from fourth to second. Juri Vips was a man on the move, starting 12th and with good pace a bit of unlucky for the competitors, he managed to grab the final spot on the podium.
Among the unlucky drivers was the driver in the second place in the Championship before the weekend, Nicklas Nielsen. The 20 year-old lost his front wing in a collision with a competitor and had to dive for the pits to get a new one.
Starting positions for race 2 is determined by the second fastest lap in qualifying, and that meant Julian Hanses (US Racing) was starting from Pole Position. He repeated his teammates quality drive and lead from start to finish. Felipe Drugovich (Van Amersfoort Racing) made it from fourth to second, while Marcus Armstrong (Prema Powerteam) kept third place from start to finish, even though the positions around him changed.
Louis Gachot (Van Amersfoort Racing) was on Pole Position for race 3, where the top 10 qualifying positions are reversed. He was followed by Lirim Zendeli, Cedric Piro, and Frederik Vesti. Vesti quickly made it into third, while teammate Felipe Drugovich also wanted to mix up in the top battle. In fact it was a Van Amersfoort Racing 1-2-3 for quite some time, but Gachot dropped back a little and instead it was Drugovich who won the race ahead of Vesti, while US Racing driver Kim Luis Schramm secured third. Gachot made it home in fourth, so the only major disappointment for the Dutch team, was Kami Laliberte who had to retire with damage to his car, after a hectic start in the midfield. Along with Juan Manuel Correa and Richard Wagner, they were quick to retire. Lirim Zendeli ended up in the gravel by himself, and that was his end to the race.
The still Championship leading Juri Vips missed out on a lot of points in race 3, when he collided with teammate Marcus Armstrong – but it wasn’t enough to lose the lead of the Championship. Felipe Drugovich is third followed by Julian Hanses.
But a lot can change IF US Racing should lose all their points from this weekend. But that is up to DMSB to decide – and hopefully there will be a decision before the next race will be run in less than three weeks’ time at the Austrian Red Bull Ring.