Joel Eriksson takes the lead in the championship after winning a spectacular race at Oschersleben. Eriksson had started the race from second but led from start to finish as polesitter Janneau Esmeijer was made to start from the pit lane after a costly error on the formation lap.
Esmeijer had dominated in qualifying and was gunning to win his first ADAC Formula 4 race of the season. However; a lapse of judgement from the Dutch driver saw him drive past his grid spot and over the finish line.
By the time he realised his mistake it was too late and he and the field did another formation lap. He would eventually finish only thirteenth after the team had a word with him.
Eriksson managed to make a good start and was relatively unchallenged for most of the race, eventually crossing the line 7 seconds ahead of Marvin Dienst who was unable to keep up as the Motopark driver continued to set fastest laps.
Rounding out the podium was Robert Shwartzman. The Russian had had a poor qualifying and was hoping for a good start from ninth. Having already been promoted one because of Esmeijer the Mucke Motorsport driver simply drove around everyone to quickly settle into fourth. However; it wasn’t an easy podium having had to dispose of Michael Waldherr during the race.
He also had to deal with the charging Mick Schumacher in the closing stages. Schumacher made a poor start but quickly worked his way through the field in a race that rewarded the brave. Having made his way into fifth he quickly hunted down the podium finishers and crossed the line fourth to become top rookie, with Waldherr fifth.
In sixth was Tim Zimmermann, who put in one of the best defensive displays of the season. Joey Mawson had stalled from third, but, like Esmeijer worked his way through the order until he found himself in seventh. Zimmermann would hold off the much quicker van Amersfoort Racing car for the final ten minutes to put another dent in Mawson’s championship chances.
Marek Bockmann had caught up to the fight in front towards the end of the race, while Cedric Piro and Jannes Fittje rounded out the top ten ensuring he starts on pole for race three.
