Championship leader Théo Pourchaire (15, France, US Racing CHRS) claimed his second victory of the season in Race 2 of the ADAC Formula 4 weekend at the Nürburgring to extend the gap on main challenger and team-mate Arthur Leclerc (18, Monaco), the younger brother of Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc, to 52 points.
"This championship is being hotly contested and is far from decided," said Pourchaire, who has his 16th birthday on Tuesday. "I'll keep pushing and trying to score as many points as possible in all of the races. Anyway, I'm mega happy to have won my team's home race."
In their home fixture, US Racing CHRS, the German outfit managed by Ralf Schumacher and Gerhard Unger, celebrated a one-two win with rookie Roman Stanek (15, Czech Republic), who is now third overall. He also took vital points in the Best Rookie class and boosted US Racing's position in the team rankings. Gianluca Petecof (16, Prema Powerteam) in third place completed the party on the podium.
The race on the legendary Eifel circuit started with a moment of déjà-vu for the 17 juniors from the ADAC High-Speed Academy when it began to rain a few minutes before, just as it had last week at Zandvoort. This time, however, all the drivers started out on slicks because the rain stopped as the lights turned green.
Pole-sitter, Red Bull Junior Dennis Hauger (16, Norway, Van Amersfoort Racing), got away well at the start. Pourchaire successfully foiled an attack by Stanek after the first corner and defended second place. However, there was a contact at the rear of the field, as a result of which Lucas Alecco Roy (22, Germany, Van Amersfoort Racing) was forced to retire and the safety car came out on the 3.63-km circuit.
The stewards restarted the race with 21 minutes left on the clock. Norwegian driver, Hauger, kept control of the race from the front but came to a halt on Lap 6 and was unable to continue. The safety car had to come out for a second time as a result, after which, no one could prevent Pourchaire and Stanek from taking a comfortable one-two win for US Racing CHRS.
Pourchaire is on 163 points after 12 rounds. Team-mate Leclerc came in tenth on Saturday morning to reach 111 points. The Brazilian Petecof is in fourth place with 99 points in the overall standings after his third podium finish of the season.
The drivers will be back in action on Sunday at 09:50 CEST when the 13th race of the season is contested. Théo Pourchaire will start in pole position ahead of Dennis Hauger and Alessandro Ghiretti (17, France, US Racing CHRS). The starting order for the final race on late Sunday afternoon (17:00 CEST) is determined by the result of the morning race.
SPORT1 is showing this weekend's ADAC Formula 4 races on TV and online on SPORT1.de. All races can alternatively be watched via the livestream services of adac.de/motorsport and the Facebook page of the ADAC Formula 4 as well as on youtube.com/adac with German and English commentary.
Further comments on the ADAC Formula 4 race
Roman Stanek (P2 and Best Rookie, US Racing CHRS): "I would obviously have preferred to win, but second place is a great result which brings in a lot of points. I'm happy with the way the race went, and I think I can go on the attack in both of the Sunday races, too."
Gianluca Petecof (P3, Prema Powerteam): "I drove a pretty lonely race out there - I didn't have the pace of the three guys in front of me. When Dennis retired, I just tried to finish my race error-free and make sure of third place. I am very pleased that I managed that. Théo is already a long way off in the championship standings, mainly because he drives very consistently. But I'm trying to close that gap, and I want to get the maximum every time."