Ralph Boschung secures maiden victory in Formel ADAC

• Alessio Picariello receives retrospective penalty: Ralph Boschung gifted victory
• Marvin Dienst rounds off successful weekend at Slovakia with third podium
• Second podium this season for Red Bull junior Beitske Visser
• Boschung: “I certainly earned the win”

Slovakia Ring – Ralph Boschung (15, Switzerland, KUG Motorsport) secured his maiden Formel ADAC victory to round off the premiere of the series at the Slovakia Ring. However, the Swiss teenager was awarded the win as the result of the stewards’ decision at the end of the race. Alessio Picariello (20, Belgium, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) was first at the finish line but was handed a drive-through penalty at the end of the race that was subsequently converted into a 30-second time penalty. Consequently, the Belgian, who had secured the championship title in Race 2 before season’s end by coming second, dropped down the field from P1 to P16.

“I’m tremendously pleased about securing my maiden victory in Formel ADAC but wish I’d been able to achieve it under normal circumstances. At any rate, I posted the fastest race lap and was immediately behind Alessio, so I certainly earned the victory,” said a happy Boschung about the first win of the season for his team, KUG Motorsport.

Picariello had hit the brakes suddenly after driving over the finish line, hindering Boschung behind him, who just narrowly avoided Picariello’s car. Picariello’s charge went unrewarded: He had been in P7 on the grid and took the lead from pole-sitter Stéphane Kox (19, Netherlands, KUG Motorsport) on the second lap but will now have to wait a while longer to secure his eleventh victory of the season.

Triple podium success for rookie Dienst

Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing) also benefited from Picariello’s penalty, along with the winner Boschung. The Neuhauser racing driver rounded off a successful weekend by securing second place as well as his third podium in a row. The series newcomer won his maiden victory in Formel ADAC on Sunday morning, having started from grid position 8. He managed to move up a total of seventeen places in the three races at the Slovakia Ring.

Beitske Visser (18, Netherlands, Lotus) completed the party on the podium at the fourth-to-last championship race of the year. The Red Bull junior had to fight hard for her second podium of the season. After a safety car period lasting from the 3rd to the 8th lap that was caused by a collision between Callan O’Keeffe (17, South Africa, Lotus) and Mikkel Jensen (18, Denmark, Lotus), a gripping sprint race developed over two laps of the 5.922km track.

Three-way fight for podium

Dienst, Visser and Jason Kremer (18, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) were involved in a thrilling three-way scrap behind Picariello and Boschung. Using each other’s slipstream, the trio swapped position several times, and it looked at first as if Kremer would win through. But Dienst and Visser overtook the ADAC Sports Foundation protégé in Turn 3 and Kremer had to be satisfied with fifth place.

Behind Fabian Schiller (16, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) and Indy Dontje (20, Netherlands, Lotus) in positions 5 and 6 respectively, Maximilian Günther (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) had a satisfactory conclusion to an unfortunate weekend. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé improved eleven positions from 18th on the grid to finish the race in P7. Before the Slovakia premiere of the Formel ADAC, Günther had a chance to secure victory in the championship but did not finish in the first two races.

As in the second race, Stéphane Kox finished in eighth place. The daughter of former ADAC GT Masters champion Peter Kox defended her pole position at the start, but had to let Picariello pass at the beginning of the second lap, dropping further down the field on subsequent laps.

8,200 spectators came through the gates at the successful premiere in Slovakia. And now, Formel ADAC moves to Hockenheim for the eighth race weekend of the season and the traditional season finale (September 27-29th).

Comments from the top three drivers:

Ralph Boschung (15, Switzerland, KUG Motorsport), Winner:
“I’m really happy with my maiden win in the Formel ADAC but wish it could have happened in normal circumstances. However, I recorded the fastest lap time and was right behind Alessio, so definitely deserved the win. Alessio hit the brakes very hard on the finishing straight and there was almost a collision between us. I had to react quickly to avoid him – it was quite dangerous. The whole race was action packed. I made a good start and moved up through the field. After Alessio passed me, I had to fend off Beitske. Thankfully, I was able to do that and can go home with a victory under my belt.”

Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing), Second:
“I’m very happy with second place. That was my third podium of the weekend, which shows how strong our car is. I started from P8 on the grid and it was mixed bag of a race for me. Luckily, I was able to do well in the end. The slipstream battles were again hard-fought, but always fair – this is what makes racing so much fun. After the weekend’s results, I can now go to my home race at Hockenheim full of confidence. There’s a lot of potential both in the car in myself and I hope I can show that at the Hockenheimring and finish on the top rung of the podium once again.”

Beitske Visser (18, Netherlands, Lotus), Third:
“I’m very happy to be back on the podium. My race pace was very good over the whole weekend. Unfortunately, the rainy qualifying session didn’t go as planned and we could have done more with better grid positions. The battles during the race were a lot of fun. I never eased off and had my sights set on a podium place. I can go to the season finale at Hockenheim full of confidence knowing that we’ve made some progress with the car. I want to pick up my second win of the season there.”