Race Report

FIA ADAC FORMULA 4
GERMAN CHAMPIONSHIP, Rounds 19/20/21

Circuit: Oschersleben (D), Length 3.696 km, 11^th/12^th/13^th September 2015
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JENZER MOTORSPORT 2015:
Moritz Müller-Crepon (CH), David Kolkmann (D) and Marek Böckmann (D)

Podium for Böckmann at Oschersleben

The seventh of eight race events featuring the German FIA ADAC Formula 4 Championship was held on the very technical Oschersleben (D) circuit. There were 35 drivers signed on to start so expectations were high. The races can be followed live on Sport1 tv and on the official website under Live Streaming.

Qualifying

Saturday, 12/09/2015, (15.35 – 16.20) 16.10 – 16.40, Weather: Fog, 15°C

The series regulations stipulate that the enormous field must be split into two groups, each of which has a 20 minute qualifying session. The fastest lap time for each driver is used to set the grid for Race One and the second fastest lap time is used to set the starting positions for Race Two. The grid for Race Three is determined from the results of Race One, with the first ten finishers starting in reverse order so the winner of Race One starts from 10^th, the 2^nd placed driver starts 9^th, and so on.
Here the weather was the dominant factor. Because of thick fog there was no action on track until shortly before lunch, and the schedule had to be completely rejigged. Qualifying would now be just one session only, of 30 minutes total duration.
Marek claimed two 10^th places, David was 16^th and 21^st, and Moritz, who spun in the middle of the session, ended up 28^th and 27^th in the massive field.

FIA ADAC Formula 4 German Championship

Race One (30 minutes)

Saturday, 12/09/2015, 17.50, Weather: Sunny 20°C

After the delayed qualifying session there wasn’t much time until the race started. Esmeijer on pole, jumped the start to such an extent that a second green flag lap was deemed necessary with Esmeijer starting from the pit lane. Marek was 7^th at the end of the first lap, David was 12^th and Moritz was 26^th. It was a relatively incident-free race and everything went smoothly. To everyone’s delight the Safety Car wasn’t needed at all this time out. Marek drove very well, but eventually had to give way to Mawson, who was pushing his way towards the front. That put Marek 8th and he managed to come home in this excellent positon home without any further problems. When Wolf was handed a Drive Through penalty, this promoted David to 11^th and he set some very good lap times to come home to his best result of the season so far, only just outside the points. Moritz managed to carry out some exciting overtaking moves to edge his way up to 22^nd by the end of the race, demonstrating that a better qualifying result would have given him a substantial advantage.

FIA ADAC Formula 4 German Championship

Race Two (30 minutes)

Sunday, 13/09/2015, 09.45, Weather: Overcast, 16°C

Light rain had fallen in the early morning, and as the cars lined up on the grid it was still drizzling a little. However the weather soon cleared as predicted so everyone started on slick tyres, despite the track being damp and slippery as soon as you got off the ideal line. Right at the start there were a couple of incidents that led to the Safety Car being deployed. The restart happened a lap later, but again there were accidents and the Safety Car was back on track almost immediately. Marek was 7^th, David had had to avoid a spinning car and dropped back to 27^th and Moritz had moved up to 21^st. At the restart several Drive Through penalties were awarded to drivers who had jumped the start, which moved Marek up to 6^th, Moritz to 17^th and David to 20^th. Marek came under pressure from Esmeijer and Mawson, all three of them right on the limit. Esmeijer got past Marek, and Mawson launched his attack not long after. He clashed with Marek, and Marek went off onto the grass though he was able to slot back in again in 14^th. Starting his recover drive immediately Marek managed to move up to 10^th place by the chequered flag. Moritz improved his position steadily and was up to 15^th when he got caught between two drivers and, given the circumstances, was unable to avoid a crash. He was sandwiched and catapulted off track which ended his race prematurely. David had also worked his way up the order and was able to avoid getting involved in any incidents, crossing the finish line in a good 14^th place.

FIA ADAC Formula 4 German Championship

Race Three (30 minutes)

Sunday, 13/09/2015, (16.45), 18.30, Weather: Rain, 20°C

The F4s had to wait nearly two hours for the start on Sunday evening because the barriers had been heavily damaged in a hefty DTM accident and had to be completely repaired. In the meantime it started raining though it wasn’t enough to make it worth changing to wet weather tyres. Finally the race got underway with Marek making a good start to hang onto 3^rd. Mawson had taken the lead from Zimmermann and Marek slotted in behind them, driving a strong race where he was more than able to match the pace of the leaders. In the second half of the race championship leader Dienst appeared in his mirrors but despite the difficult conditions Marek managed to keep 3^rd from Dienst and finished in an excellent 3^rd place to our great joy. That gave him his best result of the season! David also drove well and was in 11^th for a long time. He fought it out with Esmeijer, but in the end had to give in and let him go. However, David drove a very good race and came home safely to claim a satisfying 12^th place. Moritz got away well, but managed to have a bit of an off track grassy moment. As a result he had to make up ground, which he was able to do in the closing stages. He made some good overtaking moves to cross the finish line in 26^th.

The next and final race meeting in the ADAC Formula 4 series takes place in 3 weeks’ time, on the weekend of 4^th October 2015 at Hockenheim (D).

Championship Standings

FIA ADAC Formula 4 German 2015 after 21 races out of 24:
1^st Marvin Dienst (D), 310 points; 2^nd Joel Eriksson (SWE), 280 points; 3^rd Joseph Mawson (AUS), 256 points; 4^th Robert Shwarzman (RUS), 167 points; 5^th Tim Zimmermann (D), 134 points; 6^th Janneau Esmeijer (NL), 124 points; 16^th Marek Böckmann (D), 29 points; 25^th Lucas Mauron (CH), 4 points

2015 FIA ADAC FORMEL 4 GERMAN CHAMPIONSHIP - AGENDA

More info:

• www.adac-motorsport.de/adac-formel-4/de/