Marvin Dienst wins Race 2 at Slovakia Ring - Alessio Picariello champion before season’s end

• First win of season for rookie Marvin Dienst
• Alessio Picariello wins championship with four races still to be run
• Mücke Motorsport celebrate early win, securing team championship at the Slovakia Ring before end of season
• Dienst: “The race was incredibly close”

Slovakia Ring – The second race of the Formel ADAC at the Slovakia Ring premiere was terrifically exciting. Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing) secured his maiden victory in his debut season, making the podium for the second time this weekend. “I’ve been close to winning so often, and now I’ve finally done it. I cannot begin to describe my feelings. I’m overjoyed,” said the Neuhauser Racing rookie driver happily. Freshly crowned champion Alessio Picariello (20, Belgium, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) and Jason Kremer (18, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) completed the top three.

Dienst began the race from eighth on the grid but by the third lap had fought his way up into P2 behind Ralph Boschung (15, Switzerland, KUG Motorsport). After a safety car period on the third lap, caused by a collision between Hendrik Grapp (19, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) and Kim Luis Schramm (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), one of the season’s most exciting races began to play out: On Lap 5, Picariello in third place overtook the pair in front of him, Dienst and Boschung, as they ran through Turn One and secured the lead. Meanwhile, Dienst saw his chance and clawed his way past the KUG Motorsport driver to begin hunting down Picariello.

At the front of the field, Picariello, Dienst and Boschung raced neck and neck lap after lap, separated by just a few hundredths of a second. Three laps from the finish, there was minor contact on the start/finish straight between Picariello and Boschung. Dienst saw his chance and took P1. The 16-year-old successfully built up a small lead which he maintained at the finish line.

Picariello: Sixth champion in history of Formel ADAC

Second place was enough to give Picariello the championship win before season’s end. The Belgian driver has 331 points after the twentieth race of the season. On paper, his main rival for the championship title, team-mate Maximilian Günther (216 points) can no longer catch him.

The young Belgian succeeds Marvin Kirchhöfer and is the sixth champion of Formel ADAC. Having notched up ten wins and 14 podium finishes so far this season, he has achieved something quite unique in the Formel ADAC on his way to lifting the title: Picariello has led the championship since the first race at the season opener in Oschersleben without a break.
ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Günther has had the worst luck of the weekend so far. After his failure to finish in Race One, his second race ended during the very first lap in a collision with Stefan Riener (18, Austria, Neuhauser Racing). Günther, the most successful rookie in this year’s cohort of 15 newcomers to the series, was subsequently forced to retire in the pits.

Behind Picariello, Kremer achieved his eighth podium finish of this season and consolidated his third place overall, having secured 190 points. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé was within striking distance of the top three for quite some time and took advantage of Boschung’s lock-up in the ninth round on Turn one to overtake the Swiss driver.

Red-Bull Junior Visser impresses by going on another charge

Boschung had to be satisfied with fourth place in front of Beitske Visser (18, Netherlands, Lotus). After experiencing a difficult qualifying session, the Red Bull junior had a strong showing in the second race and improved seven positions from twelfth place on the grid. On the final turn of the final lap, Visser overtook pole-setter Nicolas Beer (17, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing), who was in fifth place at the time. At the end of the race, the Danish driver was handed a drive-through penalty, which was subsequently converted into a 30-second time penalty for making a dangerous manoeuvre. In the first race, Visser, the most successful female driver ever in Formel ADAC had moved up the field from P13 to fifth place.

Stéphane Kox (19, Netherlands, KUG Motorsport) finished eighth behind Visser, Schiller Motorsport driver Fabian Schiller (16, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) and Indy Dontje (20, Netherlands, Lotus), achieving her best result so far in the Formel ADAC. Kox is on pole in the final race at the Slovakia Ring (live stream at www.adac.de/motorsport, 2:50pm).

Mücke Motorsport secure title before season’s end

The team championship has also been won before the end of the season. Mücke Motorsport have secured the Formel ADAC team title for the first time ever. Competing under the banner of the ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., the five drivers of the Berlin-based outfit have amassed 550 points so far. Mücke Motorsport have won through against second-placed team Neuhauser Racing (380 points) and are in an unassailable position.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing), Winner:
“My first win in Formel ADAC – it's an incredible feeling. I’ve been close to winning so often, and now I’ve finally done it. I cannot begin to describe my feelings. I’m overjoyed. The race was incredibly close. We gave each other no quarter out on track. It was a really tough fight, but always fair. Alessio was very strong, but fortunately, I was able to pull away and build up a small lead. However, I was not sure until I'd reached the finish line whether victory would be mine. So, I feel really happy that I'm finally able to hold my first trophy. I'm in grid position eight once again for the start of the third race, so I've decided to go for it and secure another victory.”

Alessio Picariello (20, Belgium, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), Second:
“Winning the championship before season's end is an incredible feeling. The race was great fun, even though Marvin was faster than me today. Slip-streaming makes defending the lead against faster cars very difficult on this track. I launched a manoeuvre in Turn One and overtook Ralph and Marvin in one go. I’d seen that the two were scrapping, chose my line and cruised past. Well, of course, I lost P1 soon afterwards, but winning the title is more than enough recompense. I could have won the race but was taking no chances, preferring instead to secure points towards the championship win.”

Jason Kremer (18, Germany, Schiller Motorsport), Third:
“I'm very pleased with third place, because that was the maximum possible today. My left rear wheel was damaged after a contact in only the second turn. I lost speed in the turns as a result, and the car was very unstable. I initially thought my race was over, so a podium is much more than I’d hoped for. It was necessary to keep a cool head in the hard-fought scraps at all times, which I did very well. I’ll attack again in the third race, because here all things are possible.”