Strong field for opening race weekend at the Red Bull Ring. ADAC Stiftung Sport driver Tramnitz: “I am looking forward to finally going racing.”

The eagerly-awaited season-opener is finally upon us: season seven of ADAC Formula 4 gets underway this weekend (11th to 13th June) with a strong field at the Red Bull Ring. Two months after the official pre-season test in Oschersleben, the talented motorsport youngsters in the high-speed school get to go racing – and they can look forward to the support of the fans. 3000 spectators are permitted per day for the races in Austria. The basis for this is the hygiene concept, which the ADAC GT Masters has implemented in collaboration with the Red Bull Ring. The races will be shown live, free and exclusively on TVNOW on Saturday and Sunday, as well as at adac.de/motorsport. No registration or subscription is required to watch the races on TVNOW.de. 25 drivers will line up on the grid for the opening round of this season’s ADAC Formula 4, including guest starters from Jenzer Motorsport and Iron Lynx. It is hardly possible to pick a favourite at this early stage – ADAC Stiftung Sport driver Tim Tramnitz (16, Hamburg, US Racing) and Oliver Bearman (16, Great Britain, Van Amersfoort Racing) led the way during the tests at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in April. “I am looking forward to the season-opener, the long wait is over. It is good to finally go racing again,” says Tramnitz, who lines up for the US Racing team of Ralf Schumacher and Gerhard Ungar. “I don’t want to put myself under any pressure and will approach the weekend in the same way as I have done previously. However, I have obviously set myself goals and want to challenge for the title. A good start would definitely help, and I have already shown that I have the pace required.” The field also includes two female drivers: Maya Weug (17, Belgium, Iron Lynx), the first woman in the Ferrari Driver Academy, and Hamda Al Qubaisi (18, United Arab Emirates, Prema Powerteam) will take on their male counterparts. The field is a diverse one, with 25 starters from 13 countries spread across eight teams. It also features seven rookies, who will obviously not want to play second fiddle to the more experienced starters. For the majority of the field, this is the first race weekend in ADAC Formula 4 – and what better place to start than the Formula 1 circuit in the Styrian mountains. Last year’s event here was dominated by eventual champion Jonny Edgar and runner-up Jak Crawford, who won all three races between them. Also in the thick of the action was Tim Tramnitz, who won the rookie competition in the opening race at the Red Bull Ring. “I like the circuit. It is very fast, but also has some technical sections,” says the man from Hamburg: “There are overtaking opportunities. The fact that I have raced here already is definitely not a disadvantage.” For the Sauter Engineering + Design and BWR Motorsport teams, these are the very first races in the ADAC’s high-speed school, and both are looking forward to making their debuts. Father and son Stephan and Michael Sauter (16, Switzerland) are the men behind the Sauter Engineering + Design team. Together, they are initially looking to find their feet and establish themselves in the high-class ADAC Formula 4 environment. At BWR Motorsport, Erich Baumgärtner is the man pulling the strings in the background. The former race engineer with Team Rosberg has a wealth of experience, which he is looking to pass this on to his drivers. In the cockpit are German Valentino Catalano (15, Germersheim), the Junior champion in French Formula 4, and karting world champion Taylor Barnard (17, Great Britain). At the Prema Powerteam, the men behind the wheel include Hamda Al Qubaisi and Sebastian Montoya (16, Columbia). The son of former Formula 1 driver and Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya is continuing the tradition of drivers with big names in ADAC Formula 4. Before him, Mick and David Schumacher, Enzo Fittipaldi and Jack Doohan have all raced in the German junior series. Friday’s first practice sessions (09:40 and 13:40) will give the first indication of the balance of power, before qualifying gets underway at 18:25, when the grid positions for the first two races on Saturday (11:15 and 17:30) will be determined. In Sunday’s third and final race of the weekend )11:05), the top eight from race two start in reverse order.