Alessio Picariello wins yet again on closing race weekend at Hockenheim

• Twelfth win of the season for Alessio Picariello, equalling Richie Stanaway’s record
• Maximilian Günther takes runner-up trophy – despite retirement from race
• Podium finish for local favourite Marvin Dienst

Hockenheim – Alessio Picariello (20, Belgium, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) continues his onwards march with yet another victory on the final weekend of the 2013 Formal ADAC season at the Hockenheimring. Having already wrapped up the championship two weeks ahead of time at the Slovakia Ring, the Belgian also won the second race on Sunday morning. “I’m very pleased about this second win at Hockenheim,” said Picariello. “At the start of the race, my car was quite difficult to drive, as our strategy was to be fast at the end.”

Having won 14 races over two seasons, the 20-year-old is the most successful driver in the history of the ADAC ‘High-Speed Academy’. With this second victory in the penultimate race of the year, Picariello has also matched the record set by Richie Stanaway in his championship-winning season 2010 of twelve victories in a single year.

In Sunday morning’s race, Picariello was the beneficiary of a stroke of bad luck for team-mate Maximilian Günther (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) who had successfully defended the lead from pole position at the start. The champion put his team-mate under considerable pressure but was unable to get past the ADAC Sports Foundation protégé. On the seventh lap, Günther’s car developed a technical fault that brought him to a halt at the entry to the home straight, from where he was unable to continue the race. Picariello inherited the lead and defended it to the end, crossing the finish line three seconds ahead of Nicolas Beer (17, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing) and local favourite Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing), both of the Neuhauser Racing stable.

Günther takes runner-up trophy in rookie season

Günther nonetheless had cause for celebration, clinching the number two spot in the championship with one race to go. His points tally of 238 gives him an unassailable lead over closest rival Jason Kremer (18, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) who finished the race in fourth position.

ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Kremer was engaged in a battle with Neuhauser Racing duo Dienst and Beer for a place on the podium, which reached its climax four laps from the end. Beer overtook Kremer on the hairpin to move up into third and then also caught team-mate Dienst, who misbraked in a scrap with Kremer, on the way to the Mercedes-Tribüne. This opened the way for Beer to make his third podium appearance of the season.

Dontje in the points again

A trio of Lotus drivers followed fourth-placed Kremer across the line and into the points: Red Bull junior Beitske Visser (18, Netherlands, Lotus), Mikkel Jensen (18, Denmark, Lotus) and Indy Dontje (20, Netherlands, Lotus) finished the race in fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively. Jensen and Dontje benefited from retirements by other drivers ahead of them but nonetheless staged creditable charges up the field from grid positions of twelfth and 14th. This makes Dontje the only driver in the current line-up to have scored points in every race of the 2013 season.

Benedikt Gentgen (15, Germany, JBR Motorsport & Engineering) achieved the best result of his Formel ADAC debut season with a P8 finish. The JBR Motorsport & Engineering youngster thereby qualifies for pole position in the third and thus last race on Sunday afternoon (16:55 CEST, live streaming via www.adac.de/motorsport). Stefan Riener (18, Austria, Neuhauser Racing) and Stéphane Kox (19, Netherlands, KUG Motorsport), daughter of former ADAC GT Masters champion Peter Kox, picked up the remaining points.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Alessio Picariello (20, Belgium, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), winner:
“I’m very pleased about this second win at Hockenheim. At the start of the race, my car was quite difficult to drive, as our strategy was to be fast at the end. Therefore, it was all about maintaining a consistent gap to Maximilian, which I succeeded in doing. I’m not sure whether I could have won the race without his retirement – our pace was virtually identical. But once he had dropped out, I was able to conserve the tyres for the third race. I think that the last race of the season should also be winnable for me.”

Nicolas Beer (17, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing), second:
“I’m really happy to be back on the podium again. The first lap was really chaotic, and I was unsure at times where I should drive in order to avoid a collision. I seized my opportunity in front of the Mercedes-Tribüne while my opponents were busy scrapping with each other. They both braked too late, and I gained two positions in a single move. The car was incredibly fast today. My target for the third race is to score as many points as possible and to finish the season on a high note.”

Marvin Dienst (16, Germany, Neuhauser Racing), third:
“It’s a very special feeling to finish on the podium in my home race. Even so, I had been hoping for even more, as my retirement yesterday meant that I had fresher tyres than my opponents. From the halfway point in the race, it then turned into a three-way battle between me, my team-mate Nicolas Beer and Jason Kremer. I tried to attack, but realised five laps from the end that Nicolas was too quick for me today. From then on, I focused on consolidating my podium finish. I’m hoping to do well in the third race too – I’ve shown in the past that I’m capable of moving up from midfield to the front.”