Maximilian Günther wins second race at Oschersleben

• Championship runner-up Maximilian Günther secures his first win of the 2014 Formel ADAC season
• Mikkel Jensen back on podium after his opening victory
• ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Günther: “What a mega feeling.”

Oschersleben – Plenty of excitement right up until the very last second, as the young Formel ADAC trainees treated spectators in the etropolis Motorsport Arena to some spectacular motor racing this Sunday morning. Maximilian Günther (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) won the second race at the season opener in Oschersleben. The reigning vice-champion had a lead of 0.356 seconds on second-placed Mikkel Jensen (19, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing) at the finish line. Günther's team-mate Marvin Dienst (17, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) completed the podium party in the second of three races this weekend.

“I'm over the moon after this hard-fought victory. What a mega feeling,” said Günther, who received the winner's trophy on the podium from reigning World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier. The 16-year-old finished on the podium for the second time this weekend after his second place in the opening race of the season.

Thrilling fight for victory

Günther has had to fight hard for this third win in his second year in the ADAC high-speed academy. Jensen, who won the first race on Saturday, kept piling on the pressure right up to the finish line. Günther made an excellent start from pole position. His main pursuer, Jensen, was initially kept busy defending his second place against Dienst.

Danish youngster Jensen kept up his momentum to claw back ground during the initial third segment of the race but still had a deficit of more than two seconds on Günther. However, the Neuhauser Racing driver gave chase, sensing the chance of a win. During the final eight laps, Günther had to defend himself against numerous attacks from Jensen storming along to his rear, but kept his nerve to secure his first win of the season.

Double podium for ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.

Dienst crossed the finish line with a deficit of around 2.5 seconds on the lead duo and retained grid position three to achieve his first podium finish of this season. The driver from Mücke Motorsport, who compete under the banner of ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., won through in the internal team duel against Kim Luis Schramm (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), who had to settle for fourth place.

Ralph Boschung (16, Switzerland, Lotus) in fifth place was the most successful driver for Lotus, who are contesting their home fixture in Oschersleben. The Swiss teenager was the big winner of the initial start phase, when he first overtook Tim Zimmermann (17, Germany, Neuhauser Racing) and then his Lotus team-mate Dennis Marschall (17, Germany, Lotus). Marschall finished the race that was free of any incidents in sixth place ahead of ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Zimmermann, who had secured a podium in his first Formel ADAC race on Saturday.

Fabian Schiller (16, Germany, Schiller Motorsport) finished eighth and will be in pole position for the final race on Sunday afternoon (live stream freely available from www.adac.de/motortsport, beginning at 15:20). Zimmermann will start on the front row next to the youngster from Schiller Motorsport.

Comments from the Top Three drivers

Maximilian Günther (16, Rettenberg, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), Winner:
“I'm over the moon after this hard-fought victory. What a mega feeling. We deliberately arranged things in the race, so that I would pull away at the start. It worked perfectly up to a certain point, but then Mikkel kept gaining on me, making for a very tricky situation, as he was a bit faster than me. I struggled with oversteer, which got better then worse in turn. As Mikkel drew closer, I looked at where he might launch an attack and tried to gain plenty of momentum coming out of these turns in particular. My strategy worked brilliantly and I have my first win in the bag. Here in Oschersleben, it looks like Mikkel will be my main challenger for the title, but there are still many races left to be run and I expect to see more drivers at the front of the field.”

Mikkel Jensen (19, DEN, Neuhauser Racing), Second:
“I’m pleased with my second place and the points in the championship. My tyre pressures were probably too low at the start of the race, so I had to struggle a bit with the car. Things got better after a few laps, though, and I got back into a good rhythm and attacked Maximilian. The many high-speed turns make overtaking very difficult at Oschersleben. I lost downforce as soon as I was close enough to launch an attack, and he drew away again. Overtaking on this track is only possible if your car is much faster. This tussle was a lot of fun, but I always prefer to win and think that I would have been more successful on a different track.”

Marvin Dienst (17, Lampertheim, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.), Third:
“I’m very happy with third place, although I’d expected an even better result at the start of the race. My tyres worked very well and the car was fast. I was right behind Mikkel and tried to attack him so as to be in a position to fight Maximilian for the win. However, I had a small sideways-skid after moving to overtake, enabling Mikkel to pull away quite a fair bit. It was no longer possible to close the gap and so I had to be content with third place. However, things are looking up after a very tough day yesterday, and maybe I can top my P3 with an excellent result in the third race.”