Van Amersfoort Racing will start the 2017 ADAC Formula 4 season as they ended the last, on top of the standings. A time of 1min 25.746 from Felipe Drugovich was enough to give him pole position at Oschersleben.
The session started with Brazilian driver Drugovich setting the early pace. He’d been in the top five for both free practice sessions and was easily one of the front-running drivers expected to set the pace during qualifying.
It wasn’t long before the US Racing team hit back, with Fabio Scherer and Nicklas Nielsen each taking their time at the top. The benchmark continued to drop with the Swiss driver holding top spot for the middle lull.
Scherer had topped first practice and was the man on form going into qualifying, out to prove he could challenge his new team mates who had beaten him last year.
While the rest of the field came in for a pit stop, the Prema Powerteam drivers stayed out, looking to make the most of the free space with Juan Manuel Correa jumping up to a provisional third behind Drugovich.
The second half of the session started with Sophia Floersch laying down the marker becoming the first driver to drop below the 1min 26sec barrier. This wouldn’t last long though as Drugovich crushed the time by over two tenths.
The order below them would change a substantial amount of times but Drugovich stayed rigid at the top, claiming the first pole position of the year.
A late charge from Nielsen will see him line-up alongside as Floersch, who had been fastest in second practice, took third ahead of Juri Vips.
This meant that early session pace-setter Scherer was forced to settle for fifth alongside Jonathan Aberdein, the man to have been fastest in the pre-season tests.
