Liam Lawson (16, New Zealand, Van Amersfoort Racing) rounded off a strong performance in the ADAC Formula 4 this weekend at the Lausitzring with a perfect finish. The New Zealander won the third and final round in bright sunshine this Sunday morning and celebrated his second win of the weekend. He had finished runner-up in the second race on Saturday.
"To be honest, I'm a bit speechless. We had some problems on Friday, so I never really thought that such success could be possible. It's great that we were able to show how fast we are," said a delighted Lawson. Second place in Sunday's race went to Charles Weerts (17, Belgium, Van Amersfoort Racing), giving the Dutch outfit a one-two win. Mick Wishofer (18, Austria, US Racing CHRS) was third.
Zendeli fourth - Krütten best Rookie
Championship leader Lirim Zendeli (18, Germany, US Racing CHRS) worked his way up from eighth place and finished fourth ultimately. Frederik Vesti (16, Denmark, Van Amersfoort Racing) came home in fifth place to take his first points of the weekend. Enzo Fittipaldi (16, Brazil, Prema Theodore Racing) took P6 from Oliver Caldwell (15, Great Britain, Prema Theodore Racing). Niklas Krütten (15, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) in P8 was best rookie. P9 went to Gianluca Petecof (15, Brazil, Prema Theodore Racing). Rookie Leon Köhler (18, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) completed the Top Ten.
Joey Alders (18, Netherlands, Van Amersfoort Racing) started the race from pole position and maintained his lead on David Schumacher (16, Germany, US Racing CHRS). To their rear, Weerts passed Fittipaldi. Alders dominated the race for a long time, but his team-mates, Weerts and Lawson, steadily worked their way forwards and closed the gap on Alders after passing Schumacher. With eleven minutes still on the clock, Weerts and Lawson passed Alders one after the other, who then also had to let Wishofer through soon afterwards.
Dutch driver Alders dropped even further down the field a few minutes later after spinning off the track. Schumacher had to take evasive action as Alders rejoined the race, which also cost him a couple of positions. Alders finished 14th, Schumacher 18th. Meanwhile, at the front of the field, Lawson launched an attack on Weerts and took the lead. The New Zealander pulled away while Weerts had to fend off Wishofer and Zendeli. The Belgian finished second ahead of Wishofer. Overall championship leader Zendeli was fourth.
The ADAC Formula 4 juniors will head next to the Red Bull Ring at Spielberg, Austria, for the third meeting of the season in three weeks' time and races ten, eleven and twelve.
More comments from ADAC Formula 4 drivers
Charles Weerts (Second, Van Amersfoort Racing): "That was a good race, even though I made a mistake which allowed victory to slip from my grasp. Still, it's great to have finished on the podium. That feeling outweighs everything else. My goal next is to finish on top."
Mick Wishofer (Third, US Racing CHRS): "We've consistently scored well, but I had a pretty bad start just now and fell behind. However, I fought my way forwards and was finally rewarded with third place."
Niklas Krütten (Best Rookie, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.): "That was a really tough race. The start was good, and we were able to overtake a couple of the others afterwards, but then I got some problems with the tyres. As a result, I could not catch the two Prema drivers in front of me. Still, it's a good way to finish the weekend. We didn't have the overall pace to compete up front. I'm now looking forward to the Red Bull Ring where I want to be best Rookie again. Perhaps a podium might even be possible."