Van Amersfoort Racing driver of Felipe Drugovich took the chequered flag in the opening ADAC Formula 4 Championship race at Hockenheim. As a result he takes the lead in the standings, with two more races to go.
With the Prema Powerteam title contenders of Juri Vips and Marcus Armstrong starting in fourteenth and twenty-first respectively, the race would be a prime opportunity for the outside contender; Drugovich, to make up ground from second.
It was chaos at the start though, with half the field setting off when the red lights turned on and the rest setting off when they actually went out, half a second later.
One of those caught out by the strange procedure was polesitter Lirim Zendeli, immediately dropping to third as Drugovich led through the first corner. As the field settled down though, attention fell on the Prema’s as they scythed their way through the field.
Vips and Armstrong would spend most of the race in eighth and tenth though, as the leaders initially broke away.
Drugovich did not have an easy drive to the flag though, with Zendeli, regaining ground and pressuring in the closing laps.
The Brazilian crossed the line to put himself in the prime position for the championship, taking the lead by five points, as Zendeli pushed him home.
Completing the podium would be Fabio Scherer. The Swiss driver had made progress during the start and spent the race attacking the resilient Frederik Vesti. Eventually, a late move at the hairpin allowed Scherer to get past, as Nicklas Nielsen attempted to follow him through.
Vesti though would hold on to fourth with a Nielsen, Artem Petrov and Kim-Luis Schramm completing the queue of cars behind.
Despite early progress, Vips could only pick up an eighth, though will start third for the reverse grid event, completing the top ten would be Cedric Piro and Armstrong, who has set himself up for a solid chance in race three.
