Dutch driver Janneau Esmeijer claimed a double pole at Oschersleben this weekend. The ADAC Formula 4 driver completed fewer laps than his rivals, in a session that saw little room for error. This becomes his fourth and fifth pole of the year.
For the first time, ADAC F4 saw all of the competitors qualify in one group. The result was a busy track and little space to make up time. Unsurprisingly the session saw a red flag early on, as Yan Leon Schlom slid off the track.
Despite the delay, Joel Eriksson was leading in the early stages, as many struggled to find clear air.
With seventeen minutes remaining the HTP Junior Team drivers had caught up and sat second and third behind the Swede. The two drivers would spend much of the middle part of the session in the pits, confident they had done enough to secure their places.
They would later go out with 10 minutes to go as to cover off an attack from the cars behind. It worked with Esmeijer setting the fastest time in the closing stages as the track began to improve. It would be a position he would keep having set a best time of 1:26.586, which was 0.192 quicker than Eriksson in second.
The championship contenders filled the top four with Joey Mawson managing to work his way up third infront of the second HTP Junior driver, Marvin Dienst.
Dienst had been second for some of the session and seemed a real contender for pole having been quickest in Friday practice. However; despite getting under the 1 minute 27 second mark he was unable to directly challenge Esmeijer.
Michael Waldherr rounded out the top five, with his time still quicker than Dienst’s best from practice. While the top rookie would once again be David Beckmann in sixth.
On the fourth row, Tim Zimmermann lined up ahead of 16 year old Mick Schumacher. The van Amersfoort Racing driver won the Oschersleben race at the start of the season having finished the first race in tenth.
Schumacher will be confident, even if he can’t work his way through the field he’ll be in a prime position to take the fight in race three and starts as the top rookie in race two from sixth on the grid.
Meanwhile, Robert Shwartzman continues his poor weekend lining up ninth ahead of Marek Bockmann.
