Alpine festival: ADAC Formula 4 at the Red Bull Ring

• Wishofer aiming for win on home turf: “A win would be very nice”
• Interim champion Zendeli: “Have missed out on points too much recently”
• David Schumacher leads Rookie classification

Munich: Austrian Mick Wishofer (18, US Racing CHRS) dreams of a home win while Liam Lawson (16, New Zealand, Van Amersfoort Racing) is chasing Lirim Zendeli (18, Germany, US Racing CHRS), the leader in the standings and interim champion. The Red Bull Ring is hosting Formula 4 this weekend (8th - 10th June). Races ten, eleven and twelve are to be held at the Formula 1 circuit set in Austria’s mountains and will be the only ones that the ADAC Formula 4 will hold outside of Germany this season. SPORT1 will broadcast racing from the ADAC high-speed school on TV and online at sport1.de. All races will also be available as livestream at adac.de/motorsport, on the ADAC Formula 4’s Facebook page and on youtube.com/adac with German and English commentary.

Mick Wishofer, last year’s Rookie champion, has established himself among the top group of drivers in his second season in the ADAC Formula 4 and currently occupies third place in the overall standings. In early May, he secured his maiden win at Hockenheim and is now hoping to notch up another success at the circuit in Styria. “We’ve already done some testing there, and it went very well,” says Wishofer, who is 55 points behind Zendeli: “That’s why I’m hoping for good results, like the ones I’ve been achieving all season. Of course, a win would be very nice, since I just missed victory last year.”

Wishofer’s team-mate at US Racing CHRS, Germany’s Lirim Zendeli, has already crowned himself champion at the half-way stage but saw his lead in the standings shrink to just 25 points recently at the Lausitzring. It’s mostly Liam Lawson, who is putting the championship leader under pressure but Wishofer as well. “We missed out on too many points at the Lausitzring. We simply must make more of our opportunities. I don’t want to look back on this situation at the end of the season and find it has come back to bite me,” says Zendeli. “It’s half time, but the season is still very long. So much can happen. My team and I will continue to work in a very focused manner.”

Liam Lawson is watching and waiting to see the leader make a slip. With two wins and a second place, the dominant force from the third weekend of the season at the Lausitzring hopes to repeat his good form at the Red Bull Ring. The driver from New Zealand has a clear aim in mind: To win the ADAC Formula 4 title in his very first year. “We’ve already tested at the Red Bull Ring. It’s a beautiful track. Really great,” says Lawson, who is intent on quickly reeling in front-runner Zendeli: “There’s still a long way to go, but we can still catch him.”

The ADAC Formula 4 rookies with David Schumacher (16, Germany, US Racing CHRS) at their head are also really looking forward to their guest appearance in Styria. The son of ex-Formula 1 and DTM driver Ralf Schumacher is keen to score more points in the Rookie classification where he currently leads Niklas Krütten (15, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.) by six points and is 48 points up on Joey Alders (18, Netherlands, Van Amersfoort Racing). “I aim to be Rookie champion this season and can’t afford a period where I do badly,” says the 16-year-old.