Securing P1 on the grid for the first ADAC Formula 4 race at the Nürburgring saw Andrea Kimi Antonelli (15/ITA/Prema Racing) clinch his seventh Pirelli Pole Position Award. Taylor Barnard (18/GBR/PHM Racing) bagged first place for the second race. This saw the Brit claim the prize for the fastest driver in qualifying for the first time.
Antonelli set the best time early on in temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius in the first 15-minute session on Friday evening. In the end he completed his fastest lap of the 3.629-kilometer track in 1:27.667 minutes. Charlie Wurz (17/AUT/Prema Racing), son of former Formula 1 driver Alex Wurz, also secured a spot on the front row of the grid (+0.204 seconds). Barnard (+0.222 seconds) and his 16-year-old PHM team-mate Nikita Bedrin (ITA) finished behind the Prema duo (+0.264 seconds). James Wharton (16/AUS/Prema Racing) rounded off the top five as the fastest rookie (+0.345 seconds). As the best-placed German, Valentin Kluss (15/Bad Mergentheim/PHM Racing) will start from eighth on the grid (+0.977 seconds).
The second qualifying session turned out to be a real thriller: Once again it was Antonelli who set the first time to beat. However, Wurz and Barnard muscled in on the battle for pole position. In the end it was Barnard who secured the front spot on the grid with a time of 1:27.459 minutes, which sees him start the ADAC high-speed school race as polesitter for the first time. “It was a really close qualifying session. I was only a thousandth of a second faster,” he said, summing up his lead over second-placed Antonelli.
“I’m over the moon with the starting positions for the two races. But I am especially pleased with the pole, as my lap was much better at the second time of asking than in the first session,” said Barnard. His reward is a ‘GoPro Hero 8 Black’ action camera. “The camera will come in really handy, and no doubt I will find a few subjects to snap,” added Barnard.
Behind him, Wurz (+0.138 seconds), Bedrin (+0.156 seconds) and Wharton (+0.272 seconds) as the best rookie qualified for the second race on Saturday. McLaren Junior Ugo Ugochukwu (15/USA/Prema Racing) secured sixth on the grid on his debut in ADAC Formula 4 (+0.490 seconds). In ninth and tenth place, the two Germans Kluss (+0.753 seconds) and Jonas Ried (17/Ehingen/PHM Racing) completed the top ten (+0.965 seconds).
The first race on the iconic track in the Eifel region gets underway at 11:35 CEST on Saturday. Motorsport.tv and adac.de/motorsport will be livestreaming the thrilling race action for free.
