ADAC Formula 4

Mawson manages Wet Conditions to claim Race 1 Win

2 Mins read

Multiple ADAC Formula 4 race winner Joey Mawson continued his 2015 end of season form by hanging on to the lead to claim victory in the first race of the weekend. The race start was aborted as a sudden downpour saw the teams fit wet tyres onto their machines before a safety car start was instructed.

A rolling start gave the advantage to Mawson as he could control the gap and managed to outfox Kim-Luis Schramm, pulling out a small gap in the early stages. Sadly for the Australian, this was soon eroded as the safety car was deployed, shrinking the gap once again.

Even if the race had been dry, an abandoned start would have been likely as rookie Andreas Estner overran his grid space towards the back of the Oschersleben grid. Others around him decided to stay on dry tyres in hopes of the track drying out, however little success came of this move.

With the drivers not knowing the limit of their tyres, many struggled to find grip on the damp track, with only the brave making the move. Mick Schumacher stirred memories of his father by being the first to take the dive at the first corner holding his own to dispose of team-mate Juri Vips and move into fourth.

The second safety car had been caused by Juan Manuel Correa, after dropping a number of positions at the start, the American made his weekend harder by spinning into the gravel at the final corner. With Simo Laaksonen also in the wall, the officials decided to bring a pause to the mayhem.

The final half of the race wasn’t going to be easy for Mawson though as Schramm sniffed an opportunity with the van Amersfoort Racing driver struggling to defend on cold tyres. Behind them, Jannes Fittje found his podium under threat as Schumacher was determined to use all inches of the track to find a way past. Instead, he found himself overtaken by the rapid Moritz Muller-Crepon.

After another brief safety car, the chequered flag dropped, with Mawson taking victory, as Schramm backed off on the final lap. Fittje would eventually round out a double podium for the US Racing squad as Schumacher clawed his way back into fourth ahead of Muller-Crepon.

Behind the top five, Thomas Preining made up for a mediocre qualifying to finish sixth. Job van Uitert was another driver who recovered exceptionally during the race eventually working his way back to eighth, behind Michael Waldherr, after an off on the first lap saw him drop to the back.

Juri Vips’ awful race meant he was only able to salvage tenth after a he drew the short straw from a battle for eighth between van Uitert and the consistent Sophia Florsch. The result however means that Vips starts race three from pole.

Credit: Nick Smith / TheImageTeam.com
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