Van Amersfoort Racing driver Joey Mawson took the chequered flag first in the third race at the Red Bull Ring after a race that lasted just seven laps. It was a maiden victory for the Australian youngster in the ADAC Formula 4. Janneau Esmeijer (18, NED, HTP Juniorteam) and rookie David Beckmann (15, GER, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) completed the final podium of the weekend as the ADAC High Speed Academy ventured outside German borders for the first time.
"My first race win in the ADAC Formel 4 - incredible. This victory is for my team-mate Mick. I hope he makes a speedy recovery." The reference was to Mick Schumacher who had to miss out on the third race because of an injury. Mawson won the third of three races at the Red Bull Ring from pole position. While he was battling hard with Esmeijer for the front spot, there were a number of incidents behind them on the first few corners. Mattia Drudi (16, ITA, SMG Swiss Motorsport Group), Tim Zimmermann (18, GER, Neuhauser Racing) and Guan Yu Zhou (16, CHN, Prema Powerteam) were involved in a collision, which resulted in all three of them having to retire. Shortly after, Ralf Aron (17, EST, Prema Powerteam) bumped into Joel Eriksson (17, SWE, Motopark), winner of the first two races at Spielberg. After these two cars were forced to drop out, the race organisers stopped the race.
Podium debut for newcomer Beckmann
Following a brief interlude, the race was resumed with an official duration of 15 minutes. The drivers started behind the safety car which came in after two laps. While Mawson and Esmeijer opened up a gap at the front, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport team-mates Beckmann and Robert Shwartzman (15, RUS) were battling it out for third place. In an attempt to overtake, Shwartzman damaged his front wing and fell back. Beckmann was able to continue the race on his debut weekend in the ADAC Formula 4 and shortly afterwards secured his first podium of the season.
Michael Waldherr (18, GER, Motopark) was among the winners of the turbulent start phase. The Motopark youngster improved from seventh to fourth position. Ultimately, Waldherr was to miss out on his first ADAC Formula 4 podium when, after another safety car deployment, the race organisers took the decision to stop the race entirely. Jonathan Cecotto (15, VEN, Motopark), son of former Formula 1 and DTM driver and motorcycle world champion Johnny Cecotto, finished fifth. It was his best result to date in the ADAC junior formula series.
Points for Neuhauser Racing in home race
Kim Luis Schramm (17, GER, Neuhauser Racing) managed to steer clear of all incidents in the home race for his Neuhauser Racing team and made good a total of eight positions. Sixth place is his most successful result of the season so far. Formula newcomer Mike Ortmann (15, GER, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and series debutant Lucas Mauron (17, CHE, Race Performance) completed the top eight.
Eriksson leads the championship after six races of the new season. The Swedish youngster has 74 points, one more than Marvin Dienst (18, GER, HTP Juniorteam) on 73. Mawson in third has 64 points. The third event of the 2015 ADAC Formula 4 takes place on the weekend of 19th - 21st June at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Comments from the podium
Joey Mawson (19, AUS, Van Amersfoort Racing), Winner:
"My first race win in the ADAC Formel 4 - incredible. This victory is for my team-mate Mick. I hope he makes a speedy recovery. At the start, I sustained some tyre damage. It was lucky for me that the race was interrupted and that we were able to change the tyre. After the restart, I was having problems getting the tyres up to temperature. I was struggling with understeer and sliding all over the place. Janneau was really fast and was closing in on me. We had some enjoyable scraps, but fortunately I was able to keep him behind me."
Janneau Esmeijer (18, NED, HTP Juniorteam), Second:
"This second place means that I've scored some vital points towards the championship. We've made huge progress this weekend at the Red Bull Ring, and I feel really comfortable in this car. Unfortunately, there was a contact at the start of the race which damaged my front wing. We managed to change it during the interruption to the race. The restart behind the safety car wasn’t perfect and a gap opened up to Joey. But our speed was excellent and I quickly closed in on him again. But ultimately, I ran out of time to mount a decisive attack. "
David Beckmann (15, GER, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Third:
"I'm really pleased to have secured this first podium on my debut weekend. Added to which, I've been the best rookie this weekend and have two trophies to take home with me. At the start, I thought that I might even have finished higher. I moved up to second straightaway and saw that the race leader had a tyre problem. But before I could mount an attack, the race was interrupted. After the restart behind the safety car, I had tyre problems of my own. In addition, I had a minor bump which cost me some time. But anyway, this third place is a positive way to end the weekend. "