US Racing wins the third race of the weekend. Oliver Bearman has a 35-point lead over Tim Tramnitz. Michael Sauter achieves his best result of the season.
US Racing was on the top step of the podium again: Russia’s Vlad Lomko (16, US Racing) won the third race of the ADAC Formula 4 weekend at the Sachsenring. The 16-year-old started from second place on the grid and crossed the finish line first after 23 laps of racing. After a fifth place in the opening race and seventh in race two, this was a nice way to end the race weekend for the Russian.
“I am super happy that I won. It was hard work. Finally that first victory, but it is never too late,” said Lomko. The second driver to take the chequered flag was championship leader Oliver Bearman (16, Great Britain, Van Amersfoort Racing). The young Brit fought back strongly from fifth on the grid, but was ultimately unable to make it past Lomko, despite a long scrap for the lead. “That was a good way to end the weekend for me, after it had been rather disappointing for me at times,” said Bearman. “The circuit is not easy and you can hardly afford to make any mistakes.”
Third place went to Nikita Bedrin (15, Russia, Van Amersfoort Racing), who was once again the best-placed rookie. Tim Tramnitz (16, Hamburg, US Racing), who had won the two previous races this weekend, came home fourth. In the championship, Bearman tops the table with 215 points after the spectacular weekend at the Sachsenring. He now holds a 35 point lead over Tramnitz, who was able to make up some ground and close the gap this weekend.
The start of the race was relatively calm, but it soon became clear that the two championship favourites, Bearman and Tramnitz, were hungry to make progress through the field. Sami Meguetounif (17, France, R-ace GP) was not able to hold onto first place for long and consistently lost ground on the leaders. Lomko overtook the Frenchman and was able to open a small lead. On lap eleven, Bearman climbed into second place and proceeded to put the Russian under real pressure. However, Lomko was able to withstand that pressure and defend his position.
Further down the field, rookie Michael Sauter (16, Switzerland, Sauter Engineering and Design) benefitted from a collision involving Luke Browning (19, Great Britain, US Racing) and Victor Bernier (17, France, R-ace GP) and climbed into fifth place. For Sauter, this was the result of an impressive recovery: after a crash on Friday, a lack of spare parts meant the small, family-run team was considering packing up the badly-damaged Formula 4 race car and heading home. However, then came unexpected help from the opposition: all the ADAC Formula 4 teams made mechanics and parts available, supported Sauter and worked together to repair the car. This allowed the young Swiss driver to take to the grid and, ultimately, claim his best result so far.
Tim Tramnitz had claimed his third win of the season on Sunday morning, finishing ahead of his team-mate Luke Browning and France’s Victor Bernier (17, R-ace GP). Oliver Bearman was fourth in this race, while Nikita Bedrin was the best rookie. ADAC Formula 4 returns to the racetrack on the weekend of 22nd to 24th October at the Hockenheimring. “I am really looking forward to the races there. There are far more overtaking opportunities than at the Sachsenring,” said Bearman. “We want to maintain the lead there and take another step towards the title.”
Excitement is guaranteed at the penultimate stop on the race calendar, as titles could be decided with races still to come. The training sessions and races will be shown live, free and exclusive on motorsport.tv and at adac.de/motorsport.