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ADAC Formel 4·28.4.2019

Krütten wins spectacular second race: Leclerc takes his maiden podium in ADAC Formula 4

In the second race of the ADAC Formula 4, Niklas Krütten (Van Amersfoort Racing) defied the rain at Oschersleben to secure his first win of the season after his gamble with tyres paid off. Krütten finished second last year in the Rookie stakes and in an exciting race, beat off competition from Theo Pourchaire and Arthur Leclerc (both US Racing CHRS), brother of Formula 1 shooting star Charles Leclerc. The winner of the first race, Gianluca Petecof (Prema Powerteam), retired after a contact with his team-mate, Paul Aron.

In a spectacular final segment of the race, Aron took P4 from Joshua Dürksen (ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) and was best Rookie. Gregoire Saucy (R-ace GP) finished sixth ahead of Alessandro Ghiretti and Roman Stanek (both US Racing CHRS). Sebastian Estner (Van Amersfoort Racing) in ninth place and Alessandro Famularo (Prema Powerteam) in P10 also finished in the points.

“The semi-dry conditions gave us our chance. I gave the team the right instructions and the team did a great job,” said Krütten.

The race started behind the safety car due to the wet track conditions. After the restart, pole-sitter Dennis Hauger (Van Amersfoort Racing) led the race initially before spinning off track after making a mistake. He was able to continue, but Petecof took the lead. The Brazilian was able to pull away until his tyres began to degrade as the race progressed. His rivals, Krütten, Pourchaire, Aron and Stanek overtook. Racing was put on hold once more and the race neutralised when the safety car came out again after a contact between Ido Cohen and Nico Göhler.

Petecof and Leclerc came into the pits and switched to slicks. After the restart, Krütten pulled out a lead to begin with, but Petecof and Leclerc were closing fast from behind on much faster tyres. The Brazilian damaged his front wing after making contact with Aron in a scrap for fourth place and was forced to retire a little later. Leclerc, though, quickly closed on the race leader in the final stages and tried to attack in the final corner. Krütten defended his position. Leclerc spun off the track and had to let Pourchaire go past over the final few metres.

“Leclerc told me that he’d pushed too hard and that it was his mistake. That was nice of him. I wouldn’t penalise anyone for that,” said Krütten about the incident with the French teenager.

The third race of the ADAC High-Speed Academy starts at 2.40 pm. The grid will be determined by the results of the second race. The Top Eight will start in reverse order. Czech driver Stanek will be on pole, followed by Ghiretti, Saucy and Dürksen. SPORT1 will broadcast the ADAC Formula 4 races live on TV. Racing can also be watched online as livestream on the ADAC Formula 4 Facebook channel, on YouTube.com/adac, sport1.de and at adac.de/motorsport.