Second win of season for Marcus Armstrong in ADAC Formula 4

• The New Zealander takes the win at Oschersleben from Aberdein and Drugovich
• Top drivers bunched close together - Wishofer best rookie
• We will have our ADAC Formula 4 'half-time' champion this afternoon

Oschersleben - Race 1

Date: 8th July 2017
Length of track: 3.667 km
Top Three: 1st Marcus Armstrong, 2nd Jonathan Aberdein,3rd Felipe Drugovich

Oschersleben: Great whoops of joy went up for Marcus Armstrong (16, Prema Powerteam) as the New Zealander took his second win of the season in the ADAC Formula 4 and reduced the gap on the front-runner in the overall standings. Armstrong won the tenth race of the ADAC Formula 4 season at Oschersleben from South African Jonathan Aberdein (19, Motopark) and Felipe Drugovich (17, Brazil, Van Amersfoort Racing), who is placed second in the championship. The interim champion of the ADAC high-speed school will be decided in the second race at the Motorsport Arena, starting at 3.55pm. SPORT1 and SPORT1+ will broadcast the race live on TV, and live streams will also be made available on the Internet at www.SPORT1.de, www.adac.de/motorsport and on Facebook.

"What a great start to the weekend! We're now consistently finishing on the podium and heading for the very front of the field," said Armstrong, who took his maiden win in the ADAC Formula 4 in Austria previous weekend." Prema did a fantastic job and I was in control the whole time, which felt really great."

Fabio Scherer (18, Switzerland, US Racing) finished fourth ahead of David Malukas (15, USA, Motopark) and the current championship leader Juri Vips (16, Estonia, Prema Powerteam). Kim-Luis Schramm (19, Germany, US Racing), Sophia Flörsch (16, Germany ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg eV), Frederik Vesti (15, Denmark, Van Amersfoort Racing) and Michael Waldherr (20, Germany, Neuhauser Racing) completed the Top Ten. Mick Wishofer (17, Austria, Lechner Racing) was best rookie in P14.

Starting from P2 on the grid, Armstrong went into the lead over the first few metres, having gained the advantage on pole-sitter Kami Laliberté (17, Canada, Van Amersfoort Racing), who messed up his start and took a while to get going. Aberdein and Drugovich slotted into place behind the 16-year-old New Zealander.

The three in the lead drew away from their rivals as the race progressed. Fabio Scherer was on his own behind the front-runners, followed by a group in pursuit some way further back led by Juri Vips. The drivers scrapped hard for position with, for example, Frederik Vesti making a brilliant move on Michael Waldherr. Shortly before the end, David Malukas even overtook Vips, who finished fifth. Pole-sitter Laliberté placed twelfth at the finish line.

Drugovich will start the second race of the day from pole position. He was in front in the second-best time standings which decide positions on the grid for Race 2. Armstrong and Scherer will line up behind him.

We will have our interim ADAC Formula 4 champion after this second race, the eleventh of the season. Juri Vips on 127 points is currently in front, followed by Felipe Drugovich (117) and Marcus Armstrong (115).

The third race on Sunday will start at 11:05am, the grid order for which is determined by the result of the first race. The Top Ten then start in reverse order, so Waldherr will be on pole and race winner Armstrong will line up in P10.

The ADAC Formula 4 is taking place at Oschersleben alongside the ADAC TCR Germany as part of the support programme for the TCR International Series, and the Motorsport Arena will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with a big party. Cult East German rock band 'City' will give a concert on Saturday evening in the infield of the circuit.

More comments from the ADAC Formula 4

Jonathan Aberdein (Second, Motopark): "We were in a good position on the grid for the start of the race after having had a decent qualifying. We even had the pace to win, but unfortunately, overtaking is very difficult at this track, so with that in mind, I'm happy with second place. My first few race weekends didn't go all that great, and I couldn't achieve the results I expected. Now, however, things appear to have settled down, and I'm very pleased. I hope to secure more wins in the races here at Oschersleben. That would also be great for my team, who are based here."

Felipe Drugovich (Third, Van Amersfoort Racing): "I'm quite pleased. The top three were much faster than the rest of the competition, and I'm one of the speedy ones, which is great! I now I want to secure as many points as possible during the weekend. Of course, I'm hoping for a win, but the priority now is to collect more points towards the championship."

Mick Wishofer (14th and best rookie, Lechner Racing): "I don't know why, but apparently, Oschersleben appears to really suit us. This is my second time here on the podium as best rookie. It was a good race on the whole. I got past the others really well right at the start and then gained eight places during the race."