Start/finish victory for Mikkel Jensen at the Red Bull Ring

• Mikkel Jensen in front in home race for his team, Neuhauser Racing
• First podium success in the Formel ADAC for rookie Joel Eriksson
• Title contender Jensen: “Today’s win was not too difficult.”

Spielberg – Austrian team Neuhauser Racing got off to a perfect start in their home race at the Red Bull Ring: Neuhauser Racing driver Mikkel Jensen (19, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing) won the first of this weekend’s three races in the Formel ADAC. The Danish driver achieved a start/finish victory, extending his lead in the championship. The two Lotus drivers Ralph Boschung (16, Switzerland, Lotus) and Joel Eriksson (16, Sweden, Lotus) completed the party on the podium.

“It’s a really great feeling, particularly at this terrific circuit in front of all the fans cheering us on,” said Jensen about his third win of the 2014 season. The nineteen-year-old drew away from the rest of the field on the very first lap to cross the finish line with a lead of 1.3 seconds on Boschung.

The Swiss teenager’s second place gave him his fourth podium finish of the season. Boschung started the race from third on the grid and gained from the early retirement of Tim Zimmermann (17, Germany, Neuhauser Racing). After the start, the Neuhauser Racing driver slid into the gravel bed while lying in second position and was forced to retire. Boschung inherited the position relinquished by the ADAC Sports Foundation protégé and subsequently did not let anything else stop him.

First podium success for rookie Eriksson

Eriksson emerged as the big winner from the collision on the first lap in which several cars were involved. The series rookie skilfully kept out of all the incidents, moving up three positions to P3 as a result. Eriksson went on a charge to catch Boschung but the young Swedish driver was too far behind to launch an overtaking manoeuvre. Eriksson secured his maiden podium in the Formel ADAC and was the most successful of the nine rookies in the opening race at the Red Bull Ring.

Fabian Schiller (17, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) drove his own race behind the top three to finish the tenth race of the season in fourth place with a deficit of ten seconds on Eriksson. The battle for fifth position was extremely exciting with Maximilian Günther (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) winning through after 16 laps and a number of tussles. Currently placed second in the standings, Günther dropped down the field on the first lap from fifth to eighth place but subsequently worked his way back up to secure ten points towards the title. Marvin Dienst (17, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), Nico Menzel (16, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) and Philip Hamprecht (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) completed the Top Eight.

Jensen on his way to becoming ‘half-time champion’

Neuhauser Racing driver Jensen on 148 points leads the overall standings after ten out of 24 races so far this season and is well on his way to being proclaimed ‘half-time champion’. Title contender Günther is in second place with a deficit of 17 points. Jensen is also on pole in the second race on Sunday morning (visit: www.adac.de/formel-adac for live stream, starting at 9:55 am). Günther will start the race from grid position five.

Comments from the top three

Mikkel Jensen (19, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing), Winner:
“First the double pole, then the win, things could hardly have gone better for me so far. A big thank you to my team who are experiencing the highlight of the year here at the Red Bull Ring. It’s a tremendously great feeling, particularly at this terrific circuit in front of all the fans cheering us on. It wasn’t too difficult to win today. After a good start, I never had to push it to the limit. When I noticed on the pit board that my lead was almost two seconds, I eased off the throttle and controlled the race to the end. I hope I can do the same again on Sunday, when I’m on pole.”

Ralph Boschung (16, Switzerland, Lotus), Second:
“I’m very happy with second place today because I had a few problems during the race. I started well, but got caught up in an incident with a number of vehicles in Turn Two. My steering was damaged, which affected the rest of my race. Although there were a few problems with the brakes, my car’s speed was right – posting fastest lap is proof of that. Then, I tried to catch up with Mikkel, who was in the lead, but didn’t quite succeed.”

Joel Eriksson (16, Sweden, Lotus), Third:
“My first podium in the Formel ADAC – what a great feeling. I feel very relieved because I was the only driver on my team without a podium finish to my name. Now I can stop worrying about that and hopefully achieve more top results. I couldn’t do much better than third today because I was stuck behind Ralph and had to drive in dirty air. I had to slow down when entering turns to avoid risking a mistake which might have led to me spinning off.”