Formel ADAC shares bill with ADAC Truck Grand Prix: Extra thrills at halfway point in 2012 season

• Formel ADAC reaches halfway stage as fourth of eight race weekends is staged on sprint track at Nürburgring
• Breathtaking backdrop at the ADAC Truck Grand Prix
• David and Goliath: 145bhp Formel ADAC powered by Volkswagen shares bill with racing trucks pumping out 1,200 horsepower

The first half of the 2012 Formel ADAC season is rounded off next weekend (13th - 15th July) with a special treat for the fans. The single-seater stars of tomorrow compete in three championship races on the same bill as the ADAC Truck Grand Prix. More than 200,000 spectators are expected to flock through the turnstiles. In the run-up to half-time in the series and with the results from eight of the now 23 races already known, ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Marvin Kirchhöfer (18, Leipzig, Lotus, 119 points) leads the Formel ADAC drivers’ championship ahead of Sweden’s Gustav Malja (16, Neuhauser Racing, 105 points).

Two more of the talented young line-up will be making a relatively short journey to their home race: Jason Kremer (17, Mücke Motorsport) from Bonn and Sebastian Balthazar (15, G & J Schiller Motorsport) from Cologne. “A lot of my family and friends will be there to support me in my home race,” comments Balthazar. “There’ll also be quite a few sponsors watching too, so I’m hoping for at least a Top Five finish.”

Challenging track conditions

Formel ADAC at the Nürburgring this year is contested on the 3.618km short configuration as part of the same programme as the ADAC Truck Grand Prix. “Unfortunately, they have missed off my favourite corner – the Dunlop,” says Kremer. “But the first hairpin is also OK.”

Sebastian Balthasar especially likes the chicane and is full of praise for the grippy tarmac on this circuit. However, the aspiring young drivers from the ADAC single-seater academy are up against an additional challenge this weekend. “The racing trucks leave fluid and dirt all over the track, which we then effectively have to clean up on our first few laps,” explains Kremer, who already has experience of the problem from competing in the equivalent event last year. “As drivers, we have to factor this in.”

Comparison: Formel ADAC car and racing truck

The Formel ADAC powered by Volkswagen, which is driven by all the contestants in the Formel ADAC races, is a mere David when compared to the Goliaths of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. The single-seater open-wheel car weighs 570kg, its Volkswagen 1.6-litre FSI engine generates 145 horsepower and it accelerates from 0 to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds. The racing trucks weigh in at 5.5 tonnes (i.e. almost ten times as heavy), are powered by 1,200bhp engines and take just five seconds to reach their maximum speed under the regulations of 160km/h.

The 27th International ADAC Truck Grand Prix to be held on the weekend of 13th to 15th July 2012 at the Nürburgring is not only the main truck motor sports event of the year, but also a trade fair for the industry and a Country & Western music festival. The event in the Eifel is expected to attract more than 200,000 spectators, making it the biggest of the eleven race weekends on the FIA European Truck Racing Championship calendar. It takes place only a week after the “eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland” at the Sachsenring which, despite the miserable summer weather, still managed to pull in a crowd of 195,0000.