Just eight points separate the top two drivers in the championship. Bearman fights back to finish fifth. Champion to be decided in final two races on Sunday.

Tim Tramnitz (16, Hamburg, US Racing) took the initiative in the close title race in ADAC Formula 4, claiming his fifth victory of the season to close in on championship leader Oliver Bearman (16, Great Britain, Van Amersfoort Racing). The ADAC Stiftung Sport driver from Hamburg won the opening race of the weekend at the Nürburgring, ahead of Switzerland’s Joshua Dufek (16, Van Amersfoort Racing) and Vlad Lomko (16, Russia, US Racing). Bearman finished fifth and saw his lead over Tramnitz shrink to just eight points.

“The win obviously feels good and makes the championship even more exciting. However, it will be very important to finish well up the field in race two tomorrow, and then to go on the attack again in race three,” said Tramnitz, who knows he still has a lot of work ahead of him in his pursuit of the title.

The start was followed by a close battle between Tramnitz and Bearman in the first few corners, with Tramnitz managing to hold onto the lead. The beneficiary of this duel was Lomko, who overtook Bearman. The wing of Bearman’s Formula 4 car then suffered damage whilst still on the opening lap. He had to come into the pits to replace the wing and fell to the back of the field.

Further back in the pack, Sami Meguetounif (17, France, R-ace GP) spun at the start and Joshua Dufek, who had started from seventh place on the grid, climbed into third place on lap one.

At this point, Tramnitz had taken the virtual lead in the overall standings. However, an incident involving Luke Browning (19, Great Britain, US Racing) then added even more excitement. He lost his wing and skidded into the gravel. The safety car headed out onto the track to allow his car to be recovered. This allowed Bearman to close the gap to the rest of the field and launch his fightback.

While Bearman set about cutting through the field, Tramnitz was in dominant form out in front. He was followed for a long time by Vlad Lomko, Joshua Dufek, Victor Bernier (17, France, R-ace GP) and Alex Dunne, until Dunne took advantage of a mistake from Bernier and overtook the Frenchman on lap twelve. Rookie Nikita Bedrin (15, Russia, Van Amersfoort Racing) followed them in sixth place.

Dufek eventually managed to find a way past Lomko and then set about putting pressure on race leader Tramnitz. However, the German was easily able to fend off Dufek’s attacks. By this point, Bearman had already climbed into eighth place. He then fought his way into fifth place in the final three laps.

“I had contact with Tramnitz on lap one, which was my fault – that is not how we want to drive. I was then very lucky at that the safety car made an appearance. That gave me the chance to catch the field and at least pick up some points. We have made the championship exciting again – although, to be honest, we did not want that. Despite that, first place on the grid puts us in a good position tomorrow, so it should be a good one,” said Bearman after his fightback.

The champion in season eight of ADAC Formula 4 will be decided in the final two races on Sunday. A maximum 50 points are up for grabs. Bearman starts race two of the ADAC’s high-speed school, at 09:45 on Sunday, from pole position, followed by Dunne and Dufek. Tramnitz starts from fourth place on the grid.

The race weekend concludes with race three on Sunday (14:00). The reverse grid rule applies to this race, meaning the top eight drivers from race two start in reverse order. The races are live on motorsport.tv and adac.de/motorsport.