Marvin Dienst puts himself in the best possible position to become the leader at the half way point of the season after he collected a double pole at the Lausitzring. A successful time ensured he managed to beat his rivals in the HTP Junior Team car.
Dienst had already collected one pole this year during his dominant weekend in Oschersleben, now fourth in the championship he’ll be starting alongside Joey Mawson, who topped the Group 1 session.
The first session got off to a strong start in the heat. Mawson had started the session strong, keeping up momentum until the end of the session, allowing him to set a time of 1:21.803 beating the benchmark set in the opening practice session.
Janneau Esmeijer also impressed managing the second fastest time of the session just eight hundredths off Mawson’s time at the top, behind him were the fifteen year old drivers of Robert Schwartzman and David Beckmann who had been on course to end second practice as the fastest before a late lap from Dienst.
As group 2 got under way, it was clear that the drivers would have to impress to claim pole. Despite the pressure, Dienst delivered to beat Mawson’s time with an overall lap time of 1:21.310. Having set two laps of almost equal value the German was able to claim pole in the first and second race putting him in the best possible position.
Championship rival Joel Eriksson may be 47 points ahead of Dienst but he was four tenths behind him on track, managing fourth on the grid behind Dienst, Mawson and Esmeijer. This would not last however after the red flag period.
Eriksson, along with Mick Schumacher and Glenn Rupp were later disqualified from the proceedings for overtaking under red flags. The same fate that had seen Robin Brezina lose his right to race on Saturday morning.
This could result in one of ADAC Formula 4‘s lowest grid attendance of the year, with the field likely to only contain around 30 cars.
Despite these incidents, Dienst was happy with his performance, saying, “After two difficult race weekends, we’re once again showing what the car and I are capable of. I’m especially happy for my team. The Lausitzring plays to the strengths of our car, but qualifying was by no means easy.”