At the DTM Young Driver Tests in Jerez de la Frontera this week, the Mercedes-AMG DTM team are giving some talented candidates the chance to test the 2015 DTM championship-winning car. Among the drivers participating in the sessions scheduled for the period 1st to 3rd December are Marvin Kirchhöfer and Mikkel Jensen, both of whom launched their motor racing careers in Formel ADAC, the forerunner series to ADAC Formula 4.

Kirchhöfer secured the Formel ADAC title in his debut season of 2012. After a stint in German Formula 3, the Leipzig-born youngster made the step up to GP3, a support series to Formula 1. He finished both the 2014 and the 2015 seasons of the junior series in the Top Three.

Jensen's name went down in the annals of the sport as the last winner of the Formel ADAC competition in the 2014 season. The Dane won the title with Neuhauser Racing which went on to contest the newly established ADAC Formula 4 in 2015. This year, Jensen made his debut in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

Kirchhöfer and Jensen were joined at the DTM Young Driver Tests by Kevin Magnussen whose first experience of single-seater racing also came in Formel ADAC. That was in the 2008 season as a member of the Van Amersfoort Racing team, resulting in two podium appearances. In 2014, Magnussen made his debut in Formula 1 with McLaren.

Many of the current crop of GT racing drivers took the first step on their career ladder in the junior formula series organised by the ADAC. They include Pascal Wehrlein who was crowned 2015 DTM drivers' champion just a few weeks ago, having previously won the Formel ADAC title when he contested the series in 2011, and who has already completed tests for Mercedes in Formula 1.

Other erstwhile Formel ADAC challengers now enjoying success in GT racing include 2015 ADAC GT Masters runner-up Dominik Baumann, Klaus Bachler, Maximilian Buhk and Sven Müller.