Joey Mawson extends championship lead with victory at the Nürburgring

• Seventh win of the season for the Australian
• Schumacher only 15th after drive-through penalty – Ortmann forced to retire
• Third race on Sunday: Fittje on pole ahead of Laaksonen and Preining

Nürburg: Joey Mawson (20, Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing) has celebrated his seventh win of the 2016 ADAC Formula 4 and further extended his lead in the overall standings. The Australian won the second race of the weekend at the Nürburgring ahead of the two rookies Juri Vips (15, Estonia, Prema Powerteam) and Nicklas Nielsen (19, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing). After 17 out of 24 races, Mawson has 297 points on the board. Meanwhile, his closest rival came away empty-handed: Mick Schumacher (17, Germany, Prema Powerteam) could manage only a P15 finish after being handed a drive-through penalty and stays on 233 points. ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Mike David Ortmann (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg) also failed to add to his tally of 172 points after being forced to retire from the race.

“It’s a pity that the outcome was decided by Mick getting a drive-through penalty,” said Mawson. “He made one small mistake which cost him dearly. But that’s racing. Anyway, I was lucky not to have been taken out by the move. I never thought that the gap in the standings would be so great. Now we just have to continue in the same fashion – scoring points and finishing on the podium.”

Taking the chequered flag behind the Top Three were rookies Juan Manuel Correa (16, USA/Ecuador, Prema Powerteam), Richard Verschoor (15, Netherlands, Motopark) and Felipe Drugovich (16, Brazil, Neuhauser Racing). Thomas Preining (18, Austria, Lechner Racing) in seventh, Kim-Luis Schramm (19, Germany, US Racing) in eighth, Jonathan Aberdein (18, South Africa, Motopark) and Cedric Piro (18, Germany, Team Piro Sport) completed the Top Ten.

Starting from third on the grid, Schumacher immediately overtook Ortmann on the first corner and quickly closed on Mawson. The two main championship contenders fought a thrilling battle for the lead, in which there was contact between Schumacher and Mawson. The 17-year-old briefly took over the lead, but after reviewing the incident, the stewards handed Schumacher a drive-through penalty.

The joint favourite for the title emerged from the pit lane in 23rd position. Although he then steadily worked his way through the field, he was unable to break through into the points. Mawson meanwhile kept his cool as the safety car was briefly deployed, immediately pulling out a comfortable lead over the pursuing pack after the restart.

In the third race of the weekend, Jannes Fittje (17, Germany, US Racing) will start from pole position. The race will be shown live on SPORT1+ (Sunday, 14:50) Lining up alongside and behind him will be Simo Laaksonen (17, Finland, Prema Powerteam) and Thomas Preining. They are followed by Verschoor, Correa, Vips, Nielsen, Ortmann, Mawson and Schumacher.

Further comments on the ADAC Formula 4 race:

Joey Mawson (winner, Van Amersfoort Racing): “In the third race, I’ll be starting from ninth, which is certainly very interesting. Overtaking is not easy here, but in any case, I’m looking forward to the race.”

Juri Vips (second and best rookie, Prema Powerteam): “This is a really good result. We started from fifth and worked our way forward. At the moment, things are going really well, and of course we want to keep it up. This afternoon, I just want to enjoy the race and finish as near the front as possible.”

Nicklas Nielsen (third, Neuhauser Racing): “I moved up into third relatively quickly. Then I tried to attack Yuri, but eventually he pulled away again. Anyway, I’m still very happy with third place, which is great. I just want to carry on scoring points, then we’ll see where that takes us.”