ADAC Formula 4 has entered the decisive phase of its debut season at the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. As the penultimate race weekend of the season got underway, Janneau Esmeijer (18, NED, HTP Junior Team) booked the best starting position for himself in front of a large DTM crowd. The HTP Junior Team driver took pole position in qualifying and will be starting the first race (Saturday, 17:45 CEST live on SPORT1) from first place. Esmeijer will also be going into Race 2 (Sunday, 09:40 CEST on SPORT1+) from P1 on the grid. This is a reward for having also posted the second-fastest lap time in the session. The Dutch youngster has now claimed a total of five pole positions in the ADAC High Speed Academy.
Esmeijer went to the top of the timesheets with seven of the 30 minutes in the session remaining. Consequently, the 18-year-old even had enough time to improve further. With a fastest lap of 1:26.586 minutes, he retained the lead through to the end. Oschersleben has been a happy hunting ground for Esmeijer in the past: In the season opener in late April at Oschersleben, he clinched the first pole position in the history of ADAC Formula 4.
Lining up directly behind Esmeijer are the three title contenders Joel Eriksson (17, SWE, Motopark), Joey Mawson (19, AUS, Van Amersfoort Racing) and Marvin Dienst (18, DEU, HTP Junior Team). Currently second in the championship, Eriksson secured second place for the home race of his Oschersleben-based Motopark team. His hot lap of 1:26.778 minutes was 0.192 seconds shy of pole-setter Esmeijer.
Third-placed Mawson set a fastest lap of 1:26.817 minutes shortly before the end of the session, enough to out-qualify championship leader Dienst. The HTP Junior Team teenager, who clocked a time of 1:26.937 minutes and starts tomorrow from the second row of the grid, will be confident of building on past successes at Oschersleben. In the season opener at this venue near Magdeburg, Dienst won the first two races in the history of ADAC Formula 4.
A second Motopark driver, Michael Waldherr (18, DEU, Motopark) made it into the qualifying Top Five. Starting alongside him in sixth position will be David Beckmann (15, DEU, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport). Beckmann is the best placed of all the rookies in the starting field. Tim Zimmermann (19, DEU, Neuhauser Racing) and Mick Schumacher (16, DEU, Van Amersfoort Racing), son of record Formula 1 championship winner Michael Schumacher, complete the Top Eight in qualifying.
Changes had to be made for Saturday's timetable due to heavy fog in the morning. For the first time in the history of ADAC Formula 4, the talented youngsters competed in a single 30-minute qualifying session. Because of the large starting field, qualifying on all previous weekends has taken place in two separate groups.
Starting grid for Race 2
The starting grid for the second race is determined by the second-best lap times posted in the session. Esmeijer prevailed over his 34 opponents on this criterion too, with a second-best lap time of 1:26.593 minutes. Eriksson (1:26.855) joins him again on the front row for the Sunday morning race. Dienst (1:27.032) and Waldherr (1:27.074) start from third and fourth place. Alongside Mawson (1:27.080) in fifth is Schumacher (1:27.169) as best-placed rookie in P6. This is the best ever qualifying result for the Van Amersfoort Racing junior.
Starting grid for Race 3
The Top Ten from the first race start the third race (live on SPORT1 at 16:25) in reverse order. So the race winner goes to P10 on the grid and the tenth-placed driver occupies pole position for the third race. The cars that finished from eleventh place downwards in Race 1 line up in the same positions in the final race.
Janneau Esmeijer (18, NED, HTP Junior Team), Pole for Race 1: "I'm immensely happy about this double pole. We were up to speed as early as the free practice sessions. I was just a little worried that I might get stuck in traffic or get held up, because we were all out there competing at the same time. But it turned out to be just the opposite. I had a good gap between me and the cars ahead, I was able to complete all my laps as planned, and I managed to exploit the speed of my car to the full. This will obviously be my objective in the race too. This time, though, I really have to turn pole position into a win. I am full of confidence and firmly believe that our HTP Junior Team will be strong in the race."