The exciting championship fight in the ADAC Formula 4 continues at the Sachsenring. The three drivers occupying the top three places in the standings secured the best grid positions in qualifying for the sixth round of the 2015 season. Overall leader Marvin Dienst (18, DEU, HTP Junior Team) will tackle the first race on Saturday (live on SPORT1 at 11:55 CET) from pole position. Joel Eriksson (17, SWE, Motopark), who is placed second in the championship, will also line up on the front row. The third-placed driver in the overall standings, Joey Mawson (19, AUS, Van Amersfoort Racing), took third place in qualifying. The same grid positions are repeated in the second race on Saturday (live on SPORT1+ at 15:40 CET): Dienst on pole in front of Eriksson and Mawson. These were the fourth and fifth poles of the season for the HTP Junior Team youngster Dienst.
Starting grid for Race 1
Due to the high number of entrants, qualifying is held in two groups. The starting grid for the first race is determined by the fastest lap times in qualifying. The driver with the fastest time outright starts from pole position. The fastest driver from the other group is allocated second place on the grid. The remaining cars then line up behind the two fastest drivers according to their respective qualifying positions in their groups. This procedure ensures the greatest equality of opportunity even if weather conditions turn out different.
Qualifying in Group A was marked by stoppages. Three red flags gave the young talents little opportunity to achieve a fast lap. An exciting hunt to beat the clock developed in the closing minutes on a drying track. Following the resumption of qualifying two minutes before the end, drivers had only time for one shot at taking pole position. Joel Eriksson won through by a slender margin against Tim Zimmermann (18, DEU, Neuhauser Racing). Placed second in the championship standings, Eriksson covered the circuit in 1:33.605 minutes on his best lap to finish 0.002 seconds up on Zimmermann. Local driver Kim Luis Schramm (18, DEU, Neuhauser Racing), who topped the timesheet for quite a long time, dropped back down into third position. Marek Böckmann (18, DEU, Jenzer Motorsport) improved on his final lap to take fourth place from Janneau Esmeijer (18, NED, HTP Junior Team) and Mick Schumacher (16, DEU, Van Amersfoort Racing). The son of Formula 1 world champion record holder Michael Schumacher was the best-placed rookie in Group A and will start the first race from twelfth place.
Improvements in track conditions then enabled the drivers in Group B to beat the times of the group that had opened the session. Marvin Dienst went into an early lead. The 18-year-old posted two consecutive best times of anyone following a temporary break, substantiating his claim to the pole position. Dienst improved yet again at the fall of the chequered flag and posted his best lap time of 1:31.838 minutes. He was the only one of all the drivers to crack 1:32. Joey Mawson in second place had a deficit of 0.637 seconds and will start from P3 on the grid. A battle between David Beckmann (15, DEU, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Jason Kremer (20, DEU, Team Timo Scheider) for third place in Group B broke out behind the Australian in the final part of the race. Rookie Beckmann won through at the final moment, enabling the kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport youngster to book fifth position on the grid in the first race at the Sachsenring.
Starting grid for Race 2
The starting grid for the second race is determined by the second-best lap times posted in the session. Marvin Dienst was again the fastest. He posted a 1:32.096 on his second best lap in Group B, winning the battle against Joel Eriksson in the other group of drivers, Group A. The Motopark driver secured his best lap time of 1:33.952 minutes in tough track conditions. Joey Mawson (1:32.796) and Kim Luis Schramm (1:34.013) share the second row. A second driver fielded by Neuhauser Racing, Tim Zimmermann (1:34.336), finished in the Top Six behind David Beckmann (1:32.845). Jason Kremer (1:33.241) and Robert Shwartzman (15, RUS, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport / 1:34.360) head up the fourth row. The two Van Amersfoort Racing drivers, Harrison Newey (17, GBR, Van Amersfoort Racing / 1:33.780) and Mick Schumacher (1:34.512) will be in P9 and P10 respectively on the grid.
Starting grid for Race 3
The Top Ten from the first race start the third race (live on SPORT1 at 16:00) 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.
Marvin Dienst (18, DEU, HTP Junior Team), Pole for Race 1 and 2: "I´m very pleased with double pole, but it´s not in the bag yet by a long chalk. I had the same grid position at the Lausitzring and couldn´t do anything with it. The wet conditions were quite tricky, but our speed was good from the start, and we were able to put it to good use just now in qualifying. Fortunately, I was in the second group who posted faster times on the drying track. I went to the limit again towards the end and even a bit beyond at times. That´s exactly what it´s all about in qualifying. The cards are now dealt afresh for the races on Saturday, because dry, very warm conditions are forecast. That means we´ll have to begin again from scratch with sorting out setup."