Grapp celebrates maiden Formel ADAC victory

• Hendrik Grapp wins Saturday’s race at the Lausitzring
• Grapp: “My first ever Formel ADAC victory – and in my home race too”
• Gustav Malja extends championship lead

Lausitzring – Race 1

Date: 25. August 2012
Race: 16/24
Weather: cloudy, 26°C
Circuit length: 4.534 km
Pole position: Hendrik Grapp
Laps: 14
Winner: Hendrik Grapp
Fastest Lap: Florian Herzog (1:48.366)

Lausitzring – Hendrik Grapp (18, Berlin, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) won the first of three races at the Lausitzring on the third-to-last Formel ADAC weekend of 2012. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé celebrated his maiden victory in the junior series, also claiming his first ever podium. Grapp’s triumph in the 16th race of the season was at the same time victory number three for his Berlin-based Mücke Motorsport team. „It’s unbelievable – my first ever Formel ADAC victory, and to cap it all, in my home race at the Lausitzring,“ said Grapp after leading from start to finish.

Gustav Malja (16, Sweden, Neuhauser Racing) finished as runner-up in the opening race of this sixth weekend on the road for the promising young drivers of the ADAC single-seater ‘academy’. The Swede took the chequered flag 1.834 seconds behind Grapp to secure his ninth podium of the season. Marvin Kirchhöfer (18, Leipzig, Lotus) finished third; his tenth Top Three result in his Formel ADAC debut year.

Malja consolidates championship lead

Second place in today’s race was enough for Malja to consolidate his championship lead. The Swedish driver had dislodged Marvin Kirchhöfer (18, Leipzig, Lotus) on the last outing at the Red Bull Ring. Going into the second race on Sunday, Malja tops the championship table on 203 points, five ahead of Kirchhöfer who finished the race in third place and remains very much in contention.

Visser finishes fourth in Race 1

Beitske Visser (17, NL, Lotus) just missed out on the podium, having to settle for P4. The only woman driver in the line-up started second on the grid but lost out to Malja on Lap 2 and was subsequently overtaken by Kirchhöfer as well. Jeffrey Schmidt (18, Switzerland, Lotus) finished his race in fifth position. The Swiss driver took advantage of a mistake by Alessio Picariello (18, Belgium, G&J / Schiller-Motorsport) that left him immobilised in the gravel.

Thomas Jäger (18, Austria, Neuhauser Racing) came in sixth ahead of Roy Nissany (17, Israel, Mücke Motorsport). Also in the points were Sebastian Balthasar (15, Cologne, G&J / Schiller-Motorsport) the Mücke duo of Luca Caspari (16, Meerbusch, Mücke Motorsport) and Jason Kremer (17, Bonn, Mücke Motorsport) who retains third place in the championship.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Hendrik Grapp, Winner:
„Despite starting in pole position I didn’t expect to win, so that makes the sense of achievement all the greater. It’s unbelievable – my first ever Formel ADAC victory, and to cap it all, in my home race at the Lausitzring. My car was running beautifully today and I was able to pull away from the chasing pack relatively early on. On the sixth lap, I was a bit over-ambitious and veered slightly off track – but in the end, the performance was good enough for the win.“

Gustav Malja, Second:
„Unfortunately, I didn’t quite have what it takes to win today. It’s very difficult to overtake on this track with its fast corners. But the disappointment isn’t too great, because second place has earned me vital championship points, which enables me to extend my lead over Marvin Kirchhöfer.“

Marvin Kirchhöfer, Third:
„All in all, I’m satisfied with third place. This race must surely count as one of the toughest so far this season. We didn’t have the necessary speed and I really had to go to the limit. The scrap with my team-mate Beitske Visser went on for several laps and must have been great to watch. In the end, I managed to hold off her challenge. As for the remaining two races this weekend, I’m aiming to win again.“