Second win for Alessio Picariello at Nürburgring

• Alessio Picariello extends championship lead
• Double success for Mücke Motorsport in the second race
• Picariello: “My seventh victory of the season – what a great feeling.”

Nürburgring – Race 2

Date: 04 August 2013
Race: 11/24
Weather: overcast, 23°C
Circuit length: 3.618 km
Pole: Maximilian Günther
Laps: 17
Winner: Alessio Picariello
Fastest lap: Alessio Picariello (1:28.704)

Nürburgring – The fourth race weekend of the season at the Nürburgring is going like a dream for Alessio Picariello (19, Belgium, Mücke Motorsport): The Belgian won Saturday’s opening race and also drove to victory in the second fixture on Sunday morning. “I relaxed the pressure a bit at the half-way stage to nurse the tyres but was still able to extend my lead,” said the happy championship leader. This was Picariello’s seventh victory in the eleventh race of the season and the eighth win for his team, Mücke Motorsport.

Maximilian Günther (16, Germany, Mücke Motorsport) completed an excellent team result for the Berlin-based outfit with his second podium this weekend. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé started the race from pole position and defended his P1 on the first lap from Picariello, who had shared the front row of the grid with him. On the second lap, however, the Belgian overtook his team-mate in a fair scrap and subsequently built up a lead of six seconds on Günther. This was already Günther’s sixth podium in his debut season in the Formel ADAC.

Close scrap for third podium position

While the contest for first and second was quickly resolved, there was an exciting battle for the third podium position. Ralph Boschung (15, Switzerland, KUG Motorsport) got off to a great start, moving up from fifth to third place at the front. Dutch driver Beitske Visser (18, Netherlands, Lotus) clawed her way up the field behind him, closing on Boschung with every lap. The Red Bull junior launched an unsuccessful attempt at overtaking on the penultimate lap, and so, Boschung ultimately secured his second podium finish of the year.

The fight for the other positions at the Nürburgring’s 3.618 km sprint track was also a hotly contested affair. Local driver Jason Kremer (18, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) was in fifth place when he was given a drive-through penalty for leaving the track and manoeuvring dangerously. Hendrik Grapp (19, Germany, Mücke Motorsport) collided with Indy Dontje (20, Netherlands, Lotus) on lap thirteen and also dropped out of the points.

Neuhauser pair rewarded for clean driving

Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing) and Stefan Riener (18, Austria, Neuhauser Racing) benefited from their good driving. The two Neuhauser Racing rookie drivers started in tenth and twelfth respectively, avoided all incidents, and crossed the finish line in fifth and sixth position.

Nicolas Beer (17, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing) secured eighth place behind Mikkel Jensen (18, Denmark, Lotus) in P7, gaining valuable points in the championship standings. The Danish driver dropped from third on the grid quite early on to find himself at the rear of the field but fought back bravely on subsequent laps, mitigating the damage. The two Lotus drivers Dontje and Callan O'Keeffe (17, South Africa, Lotus) rounded off the points-scoring places.

Picariello extends championship lead

Picariello has substantially increased his lead in the championship. After his two victories in the Eifel, the 19-year-old leads the overall standings on 194 points. Günther, the most successful of the 14 new drivers so far, is placed second on 117, followed by Beer on 108 points.

Beer is on pole in the final race at the Nürburgring (live stream starts 4:30pm at www.adac.de/motorsport). Jensen is also on the front row, and the two Neuhauser drivers, Riener and Dienst, are in starting positions three and four.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Alessio Picariello (19, Belgium, Mücke Motorsport), Winner:
“My seventh victory of the season – what a great feeling. My start was not as good as it was in the first race, but I was able to overtake my team-mate Maximilian Günther on the second lap. The scrap was very close, but always fair. The track was faster today than on Saturday, but also much more slippery. I relaxed the pressure a bit at the half-way stage to nurse the tyres but was still able to extend my lead. This makes me feel quite optimistic about the third race, in which I’ll be starting from P8. Overtaking at the Nürburgring is never easy, but another podium finish should be possible with our good pace.”

Maximilian Günther (16, Rettenberg, Mücke Motorsport), Second:
“I'm very happy with second place. I defended my lead by getting away really well. Shortly after, Alessio Picariello attacked me in Turn One and I couldn’t fend him off – that was a really great manoeuvre on his part. Thanks to our good pace, we quickly pulled ahead of our pursuers. Alessio was a little bit faster than me, so I couldn’t make a move on him. Still, second place is another top result and there’s another race still to come here at the Nürburgring. I will try to secure as many points as possible in order to improve my already good position in the championship standings.”

Ralph Boschung (15, Switzerland, KUG Motorsport), Third:
“I am very pleased with this podium position at the Nürburgring. The start was the key moment of the race for me, when I moved forwards from fifth into the top three. I was in front of Maximilian Günther for a short time until my tyres started creating a bit of trouble. I lost some speed and had to drop back. The scrap with Beitske Visser was very fair. She passed me running through Turn One after popping out of my slipstream. I won back my position at the exit from the turn by braking early and changing down into first gear. The many scraps made it hard to nurse the tyres, so the third race will be very interesting.”