Victory takes Kirchhöfer to top of standings

• Marvin Kirchhöfer wins opening race of final weekend at Hockenheim
• Gustav Malja finishes second - Kirchhöfer new championship leader
• Kirchhöfer: "I managed a comfortable win."

Hockenheimring - Race 1

Date: 29 September 2012
Race: 22/24
Weather: sunny, 20°C
Circuit length: 4.574 kilometres
Pole position: Marvin Kirchhöfer
Laps: 14
Winner: Marvin Kirchhöfer
Fastest lap: Marvin Kirchhöfer (1:45.419)

Hockenheimring - Marvin Kirchhöfer (18, Leipzig, Lotus) wins the opening race of the Hockenheim weekend to take over as new championship leader and keep the Formel ADAC title chase wide open. After 22 of the 24 races in the 2012 season, the ADAC Sports Foundation protégé has now taken a five-point lead over Gustav Malja (16, Neuhauser Racing). The Swedish challenger, who finished the race as runner-up, had to cede his position at the top of the standings for the first time since the fifth race weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

"I was in control of the race from the start, and after five laps, I was able to drop the pace a bit in order to conserve my tyres for the remaining two races," said Kirchhöfer after securing a seventh race win and a 14th podium in his debut year as a contestant in the ADAC 'Formula Academy'. This was also the fifth time that the Lotus driver has recorded a start-to-finish victory. And having claimed a double pole position in qualifying, Kirchhöfer will also be starting the second race on Saturday from the very front of the grid.

Coming in third behind Malja was Thomas Jäger (18, Neuhauser Racing). The Austrian, who qualified second on the grid, lost out to team-mate Malja as early as the first lap and then had to defend third position against Jeffrey Schmidt (18, Switzerland, Lotus) after a safety car deployment. This was caused by a collision between Luca Caspari (16, Meerbusch, Mücke Motorsport) and Sebastian Balthasar (16, Cologne, G&J / Schiller-Motorsport). Jäger kept the upper hand to secure his fourth podium finish of the season.

Jason Kremer (17, Bonn, Mücke Motorsport), who won his first ever Formel ADAC race in last year's fixture at Hockenheim, crossed the line in fifth position. Beitske Visser (17, NL), the only female driver in the starting line-up, finished sixth, well ahead of her Lotus team-mate Indy Dontje (19, NL). Nicolas Beer (16, Denmark, HS Engineering), Roy Nissany (17, Israel, Mücke Motorsport) and Alessio Picariello (19, BEL, G&J / Schiller-Motorsport) complete the Top Ten for the third-to-last race of the season.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Marvin Kirchhöfer, Winner:
"I'm really pleased with the win. I was in control of the race from the start, and after five laps, I was able to drop the pace a bit in order to conserve my tyres for the remaining two races. The safety car deployment didn't knock me off my stride either. I had a good restart and from then on I managed a comfortable win. I'm back on top of championship with a five point lead, but a lot can happen in the final two races. My task now is to focus on the job in hand and not get distracted."

Gustav Malja, Second:
"Obviously, I'm disappointed, but I guess you can't win every race. I did everything I could during the race, but I just didn't have enough speed to challenge Marvin Kirchhöfer. We'll be analysing the data to see what the problem was. I'm hoping to be competitive enough for a win again in the second race. Marvin may be leading the championship, but as long as I have a mathematical chance of winning it, I won't be giving up."

Thomas Jäger, Third:
"I'm very pleased with third place but I think I could have done better. I got off to a slow start, and towards the end, I held back from attacking Gustav in case I put his chances of winning the championship at risk. My speed improved nearer the end of the race but I didn't have a clear road ahead, which meant that Jeffrey Schmidt was closing in on me. I had the edge in the first sector but he was able to catch up in the middle sector. If I can get off to a good start in the second race, and if I can keep up with the pace, there is a very good chance of a win later this afternoon."