Jonny Edgar (16, Van Amersfoort Racing) appears to be well on course to win the ADAC Formula 4 championship title. The British teenager took his fifth victory of the season at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and further extended his lead at the top of the table. Edgar beat off competition in the first round of the weekend from France’s Victor Bernier (16, R-ace GP) and Jak Crawford (15, USA, Van Amersfoort Racing) and now heads the overall standings with a 40-point lead on the American. Two more races on the famous track near Spielberg in Styria are set to follow tomorrow. Edgar will again be on pole for the start of Race 2 on Sunday.

“I got off to a good start and was then able to defend the lead,” said Edgar. “It was an important win for me, especially in terms of the championship. I hope I can do it again tomorrow.” The favourite for the title retained the lead ahead of Bernier on a track that was completely dry for the first time this weekend. The two US Racing drivers Tim Tramnitz (15, Germany) and Elias Seppänen (16, Finland) both lost two places and had to let Joshua Dürksen (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) and Crawford go through. Oliver Bearman (15, England, US Racing) ran wide briefly following a duel on the second lap and initially dropped back to the rear of the field.

The field split into four groups over the laps that followed. Edgar and Bernier pulled away in the lead, followed by the duo of Dürksen and Crawford ahead of Tramnitz and Seppänen, who were tied up in a battle for P5. To their rear, the rest of the field were busy fighting for the remaining places. ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Tramnitz and Seppänen, who occupy P3 and P4 behind Edgar and Crawford in the overall standings, produced some particularly fine racing. It was nip and tuck as the Finn overtook only to be passed once more by Tramnitz on the counterattack, and it wasn’t until the final third of the race that Seppänen finally managed to win through.

Scrapping for the last place on the podium, Dürksen defended himself against Crawford but brought himself to the attention of the stewards in the process. He exceeded track limits more than once and was initially given a five-second time penalty, followed by a drive-through penalty that deprived him of any chance of a decent finish.

Edgar was meanwhile making sure of victory in front of a strong Bernier, who was always able to keep up with the pace of the leader but could not mount an attack. For Bernier, it was the third podium place of the season. Behind Crawford, Seppänen finished fourth ahead of Tramnitz, who was again Best Rookie and extended his lead in the classification for series newcomers. The two other US Racing drivers Bearman and Vladislav Lomko (15, Russia) finished sixth and seventh. Josef Knopp (16, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) from the Czech Republic was eighth ahead of Dürksen. Israel’s Roee Meyuhas (20, R-ace GP) making his series season debut scored the remaining point.

The second race of the ADAC High-Speed Academy at Spielberg will be contested on Sunday morning (09:55 CEST), with the third race following in the late afternoon (16:05 CEST). SPORT1 is showing the ADAC Formula 4 races on TV. Alternatively, they can be watched online on adac.de/motorsport, the ADAC Formula 4 Facebook page, SPORT1.de and YouTube.com/ADAC.

Further comments on the ADAC Formula 4 race

Tim Tramnitz (P5 and Best Rookie, US Racing):

“Unfortunately, I didn't get off to a good start and lost two places in Turn 1. After that, a bit of a gap opened up to the cars in front, but anyway, I was having cool fight with my team-mate until almost the end, which was a lot of fun. In the end, it was a bit of a shame that the pace wasn’t enough to finish further forward. But at least we scored some points again and extended our lead in the rookie classification. We'll see what happens tomorrow in the second race from sixth on the grid.”