Maiden ADAC Formula 4 victory for Kim-Luis Schramm

• First race win for US Racing led by Gerhard Ungar and Ralf Schumacher
• Joey Mawson hangs on as ‘halftime champion’ despite retirement
• Rookies Hoogenboom and Correa on the podium

Oschersleben: Kim-Luis Schramm (18,Germany, US Racing) has posted his first win of the season in the twelfth round of the 2016 ADAC Formula 4 at Oschersleben. In an eventful race, the 18-year-old, who drives for the Kerpen-based US Racing outfit, kept his cool during a 20-minute interruption in proceedings to complete a lights-to-flag victory. “We’ve been so close on so many occasions,” said Schramm after securing the first victory for the newly formed US Racing Team led by Gerhard Ungar and Ralf Schumacher. “At the start of the weekend, things weren’t going right for us, but then we found a better setup and reaped the rewards.” Joining Schramm on the podium were rookies Leonard Hoogenboom (16, Netherlands, Van Amersfoort Racing) and Juan Manuel Correa (16, USA/Ecuador, Prema Powerteam). Correa has moved to the top of the standings for series newcomers and now leads by a margin of six points. Hoogenboom was delighted by his first podium: “To have come second is obviously very good. I just concentrated on pursuing Schramm. Overall, the weekend has been very good.”

Jonathan Aberdein (18, South Africa, Motopark) finished in fourth place ahead of Thomas Preining (17, Austria, Lechner Racing) and Red Bull Junior Richard Verschoor (15, Netherlands, Team Motopark), who was making his debut in the ADAC High Speed Academy at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben as a member of the Team Motopark squad.

Anticipated battle for ‘halftime championship’ fails to materialise

The current championship leader Joey Mawson (20, Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing) was involved in a collision early on and was forced to retire from the race. Even so, at this halfway stage of the season, he is still 20 points clear at the top of the table because second-placed Mick Schumacher (17, Germany, Prema Powerteam) also failed to score any points. The son of record Formula 1 championship winner Michael Schumacher was handed a drive-through penalty after overtaking Simo Laaksonen (17, Finland, Motopark) during a safety car deployment.

After two retirements during a safety car period twelve minutes before the end of the race, proceedings were halted for 20 minutes. Thereafter, the race continued for a further ten minutes before the safety car was sent out again three minutes from time due to yet another retirement. The field then followed the safety car in convoy across the finish line.

The next three rounds of the ADAC High Speed Academy take place on the weekend of 22nd - 24th July at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Further comments on the ADAC Formula 4 race:

Kim-Luis Schramm (winner, US Racing): “It was difficult to work out what was going on, because everything was happening behind me. At the Red Bull Ring, we intend to carry on where we’ve left off here. In the break between fixtures, we have a few tests lined up.”

Juan Manuel Correa (Best Rookie and third, Prema Powerteam): “That was a crazy race. I’m glad that I was able to stay clear of the accident which took place after the safety car period. The podium is important for the team, but the race itself was not ideal. I’ll be practising hard in the run-up to Spielberg. The pace is there, but I still have to work on qualifying. I had some problems with the rain in qualifying, but in the race itself, everything was fine. The results weren’t all that good, but we can be generally satisfied.”