The title favourite got off to a perfect start as championship leader Lirim Zendeli (18, Germany, USA Racing CHRS) secured pole position for the first two races of the ADAC Formula 4 under the banner of the ADAC GT Masters. Zendeli set his fastest time of 1:26.899 minutes in hot conditions and will start the first race on Saturday morning (11.05 am) from the front row. In the second qualifying session, he improved his time to 1:26.624, beating his personal best by almost three-tenths and will again be on pole in the second race at 3:45 pm.

“I’ve not been on pole for the last four races and have now taken two pole positions, which is great, as it’s my home fixture. Being able to line up in P1 here is terrific. It’s all looking like I’m in a very comfortable position, but I’m not bothered about winning the title before the season has ended. No, it’s more important to me to consistently finish in the points and, of course, to notch up race wins if I can. But no retirements. To be in the lead in the points – then the championship will come my way almost by itself,” he told us this evening after the second qualifying session.

Enzo Fittipaldi (17, Brazil, Prema Theodore Racing) is also on the front row directly behind Zendeli. He will line up in front of Oliver Caldwell (16, Great Britain, Prema Theodore Racing) and Liam Lawson (16, New Zealand, Van Amersfoort Racing), who is second overall in the championship standings, and Frederik Vesti (16, Denmark, Van Amersfoort Racing). Rookies Gianluca Petecof (15, Brazil, Prema Theodore Racing) and David Schumacher (16, Germany, USA Racing CHRS) will start out from sixth and seventh place on the grid respectively. Charles Weerts (17, Belgium, Van Amersfoort Racing), Mick Wishofer (18, Austria, US Racing CHRS) and Jack Doohan (15, Australia, Prema Theodore Racing), son of five-time world motorcycling champion Mick Doohan, will be behind them on the grid.

18-year-old Zendeli will again lead the field out on Saturday afternoon after consigning Vesti to P2 and Fittipaldi to P3 in the second qualifying session. Zendeli’s team-mate Wishofer was fourth and Schumacher fifth. They were the best-placed rookies in the field. Lawson posted the sixth-fastest time and will line up in front of Weerts, Doohan and Petecof. Caldwell will start out from tenth place.

In the drivers’ standings, Zendeli is 46 points up on his rival Lawson and 74 points ahead of Fittpaldi in the run-up to the 15th race of the season (from a total of 20 in all). Schumacher has a lead of just ten points on Niklas Krütten (15, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) in the rookie classification.

SPORT1 will broadcast the ADAC Formula 4 races on TV. They can also be watched online as livestream at www.SPORT1.de and www.adac.de/motorsport.