Kirchhöfer wins again at Nürburgring

• Second victory in second race at Nürburgring for Marvin Kirchhöfer
• Kirchhöfer: „I'm almost a little lost for words.“
• Championship leader Gustav Malja in second place

Nürburgring – Race 2

Date: 16 September 2012 Race: 20/24
Weather: sunny, 18°C
Circuit length: 5.137 km
Pole position: Marvin Kirchhöfer
Laps: 13
Winner: Marvin Kirchhöfer
Fastest Lap: Gustav Malja (2:01.584)

Nürburgring – The battle at the top in the Formel ADAC championship could hardly get more exciting: Marvin Kirchhöfer (18, Leipzig, Lotus) shortened the deficit on overall leader Gustav Malja (16, Sweden, Neuhauser Racing) even further with a victory in the second race at the Nürburgring. The ADAC Sports foundation protégé secured his second success this weekend and is now only eight points behind Malja in the standings. The Swedish driver came home in second place and after 20 races out of 24 still leads the championship by a narrow margin; his points total is 262.

"What a great weekend. It could hardly have turned out better – I'm almost a little lost for words,“ said Kirchhöfer after his sixth win in his debut year in the Formel ADAC. The 18-year old was on pole for the fifth time this season and has secured a race win some four times now from pole position.

Two Neuhauser drivers on the podium

Malja overtook his Neuhauser team-mate Thomas Jäger (18, Austria, Neuhauser Racing) on the second lap to secure his 13th podium of the year. Jäger completed the podium party in third place. Belgian teenager Alessio Picariello (19, Belgium, G & J / Schiller Motorsport) ignored a yellow flag on the final lap and received a drive-through penalty which was turned into a 30-second time penalty after the race, dropping Picariello down from fourth to twelfth place.

Dutch driver Indy Dontje (19, Netherlands, Lotus) benefited from Picariello’s penalty. He finished in fourth place ahead of team-mate Jeffrey Schmidt (18, Switzerland, Lotus) and was the second best Lotus driver. Roy Nissany (17, Israel, Mücke Motorsport) had to defend his position in the final laps against ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Hendrik Grapp (18, Berlin, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) and just managed to hang on to sixth place as he crossed the finish line.

First points for local driver Kremer

Local favourite Jason Kremer (17, Bonn, Mücke Motorsport) secured his first points this weekend with a P8. He is placed third in the championship standings and overtook Antti Buri (23, Finland, Lotus) on the final lap and so will be in pole position in the final race. Buri, who is standing in for injured Lotus driver Beitske Visser, took his first points in the Formel ADAC by coming home in ninth place. Felix Wieland (15, Rosenheim, HS Engineering) in tenth position claimed the final point.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Marvin Kirchhöfer, Winner:
„What a great weekend. It could hardly have turned out better – I'm almost a little lost for words. I’m very happy with the team’s performance and my own here at the Nürburgring, enabling me to gradually creep up on Gustav Malja in the championship. Now I want to secure as many points as possible in the final race.“

Gustav Malja, Second:
„Second place is a decent result, but doesn’t leave me completely satisfied given what happened in the race. I had to let Marvin Kirchhöfer draw away early in the race. He then built up a big lead, and I was unable to catch him before the end of the race, even though I was getting faster. I might have had a chance of winning if the race had gone on for just one more lap. The good thing, though, is that I still have an eight-point lead in the championship.“

Thomas Jäger, Third:
„Securing third place is my way of making up for my failure to finish in the first race, though I'm a little disappointed, of course, that I was unable to cling on to P2. But on worn tyres, there was no way I could match the pace of Marvin Kirchhöfer and my team-mate Gustav Malja. I’m ahead of Marvin and Gustav on the grid in this afternoon’s final race, and we had better find those elusive tenths of a second by then, so that I can finish in front of them this time.“