Gregoire Saucy dominates pre-season testing at Oschersleben

• Saucy ahead in five out of seven sessions
• Young motor racing talents test to see if they are on form for season opener
• Junior drivers are really looking forward to start of the ADAC Formula 4 season

Oschersleben: The latest cohort to join the ADAC Formula 4 got into the swings of things for the 2019 season with two days of testing at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The young motor racing talents rehearsed what to do in case of an emergency, studied procedures and gained a lot of important knowledge with just less than two and a half weeks to go before the start of the fifth season of the ADAC High-Speed Academy. The junior drivers had a total of seven sessions lasting 7:30 hours at their disposal, and by the end, everyone had reached the same conclusion: At long last, we’re ready for the start of the new season on the weekend of 26th - 28th April in Oschersleben.

Swiss driver Gregoire Saucy (19, R-ace GP) was fastest overall during testing, setting a time of 1:23.091 minutes. He was out in front in five of the seven segments. Paul Aron (15, Estonia, Prema Powerteam) was fastest in one of the other two sessions, and Ferrari junior Gianluca Petecof (16, Brazil, Prema Powerteam) was quickest in the remaining session and second-fastest overall with a time of 1:23.161 minutes. The juniors used the final test session to practise starting.

Saucy was very pleased with testing after helping his new team, R-ace GP, make a good start in the ADAC Formula 4, “Things went really well. It felt brilliant to be in the car, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. However, I’m obviously very happy to be in the lead for the new season,” he said. He knows that results from the test days do not mean a great deal, adding: “We won’t see where we actually stand until the first race weekend.”

For 15-year-old Paul Aron, whose brother Ralf also raced in the ADAC High-Speed Academy, these were his first tests in the ADAC Formula 4. “It was a lot of fun. I really like the track. Moving from karting to single-seater racing is all about quickly gaining as much experience as possible,” he said after posting fourth-best time overall in the tests: “I think I’m in really safe hands at Prema, and of course, my brother can give me one or two tips.”

Teams and drivers still have 16 days left to find the perfect setup for the start of the season. “I’ll do everything I can to finish as far up front as possible by the end of the season,” said Paul Aron. “But ultimately, we all dream of winning the title.”

Combined best times from Tuesday and Wednesday
1st Gregoire Saucy, R-ace GP, 1:23.0931 mins
2nd Gianluca Petecof, Prema Powerteam, 1:23.161 mins
3rd Oliver Rasmussen, Prema Powerteam, 1:23.412 mins
4th Paul Aron, Prema Powerteam, 1:23.477 mins
5th Alessandro Famularo, Prema Powerteam, 1:23.642 mins