The ADAC Formula 4 championship will have their lowest car count to date, in their fourth season in Germany.
Only 19 full season drivers have entered the 2018, but it has been announced that some more drivers will do selected rounds only.
The season will consist of 6 different teams, where Van Amersfoort Racing will be the biggest with 5 cars. US Racing – CHRS will enter four cars, while Prema Powerteam and ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. – also known as the pink Mücke Motorsport cars – will enter three cars each. Neuhauser Racing and the brand new KDC Racing will run two cars for each outfit.
That makes it a goodbye to Motopark, Lechner Racing and Team Piro Sport Interdental, and decreases from around 25 drivers last year, to just under 20.
It’s just two and a half years ago that the series announced interest from more than 45 cars, and that the series would create a special qualifying heat, since there would only be 35 spots on the starting grid for the three points giving races. When the 2016 season started for real, there were less than 40 cars on the grid, and towards the end of the season, there was a guaranteed start to all the drivers entered in the weekends. So the qualifying system went back to being the regular one, but if that is the background in the reduction of entries, since you wouldn’t be sure if you would actually run for points or be eliminated before that, is hard to tell. But something dramatic has happened, reducing the field to only half size in one and a half years.
Photo: Gruppe C Photography
If we take a look at the entry list for 2018, top three has moved into different series. Lirim Zendeli finished fourth last year, and he will be starting his third ADAC Formula 4 season, but after two seasons at Mücke, he will now be racing for US Racing – CHRS.
Dane Frederik Vesti at Van Amersfoort Racing appears to be the main opposition to Zendeli, having already won a race last year, and finished 7th in the Championship.
Zendeli and Vesti are the only two drivers from top-15 in last years standings, while all the other drivers have moved on to different series.
But there is a big chance of some of the new drivers creating surprises. A team like Prema Powerteam is usually in the title fight, but they will run three relatively inexperienced drivers this year. They do however have Enzo Fittipaldi at the team, who had a guest start at Nürburgring last year, and already finishing on the overall podium in Race 3. So there is a lot of pace in that boy.
It’s not like the careers have stalled post ADAC Formula 4. A lot of drivers will background in the series has moved on to ADAC GT Masters or Formula 3, but with only 3 seasons so far, none of the drivers have reached Formula 1 level just yet.
The series will have the honour of driving together with the DTM series at the Hockenheim and the Lausitzring, plus having the unique opportunity to race as Formula 1 support at Hockenheim in July. The remaining 4 rounds will be run together with the ADAC GT Masters.
The series will run a test this week at Oschersleben, where all the drivers will be present, before the season will start for real in three weeks time on the same circuit.
The full 2018 ADAC Formula 4 calendar looks like this:
Oschersleben (with ADAC GT Masters) 13-15 April
Hockenheim (with DTM) 4-6 May
Lausitzring (with DTM) 18-20 May
Red Bull Ring (with ADAC GT Masters) 8-10 June
Hockenheim (with Formula 1) 20-22 July
Nürburgring (with ADAC GT Masters) 3-5 August
Hockenheim (with ADAC GT Masters) 21-23 September
