Mawson 28th after drive-through penalty - Schumacher narrows the gapRaces 19 - 21 at Zandvoort in two weeks' time
Thomas Preining (18, Austria, Lechner Racing) secured his second win of 2016 to round off the sixth ADAC Formula 4 race weekend of the season at the Nürburgring. The 18-year-old beat off competition from Mick Schumacher (17, Germany, Prema Powerteam), the current number two in the championship who started from P10 on the grid, and from best-placed rookie, Juri Vips (15, Estonia, Prema Powerteam). Championship leader Joey Mawson (20, Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing) was hit with a drive-through penalty late on and finished out of the points in P28. "I made a dream start and was able to control the pace throughout after that," said Thomas Preining, who claimed his maiden victory in the ADAC Formula 4 two weeks ago in his home fixture at the Red Bull Ring. "I'm really happy that it worked out so well." Jannes Fittje (17, Germany, US Racing) took fourth place ahead of rookie Richard Verschoor (15, Netherlands, Motopark) and Mike David Ortmann (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V). Moritz Müller-Crepon (19, Switzerland, Van Amersfoort Racing), Kim-Luis Schramm (19, Germany, US Racing), ADAC Sports Foundation protégée Sophia Flörsch (15, Germany, Motopark) and Kami Laliberté (16, Canada, Van Amersfoort Racing) completed the Top Ten. Thomas Preining got away to a perfect start, overtaking Simo Laaksonen (17, Finland, Motopark) and ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Fittje within the first few metres. Schumacher was meanwhile steadily working his way up into fifth place. Ortmann and Mawson also moved up a couple of positions. Preining subsequently drew away from the others, but the field bunched up together once again when the safety car was deployed after a collision between Toni Wolf (17, Germany, KUG Motorsport) and Carrie Schreiner (17, Germany, US Racing). Preining got away well again on the restart after the five-minute safety car period. He quickly established a cushion ahead of the pursuit group, which he managed well over the remaining twelve minutes of the race. Schumacher then overtook Fittje and moved up into third place. Mawson also took advantage of the restart to overtake ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Ortmann and immediately got into a major scrap with Verschoor. Mawson finally managed to overtake the Dutch teenager, but in doing so he crossed the pit entry line contrary to the regulations and was handed a drive-through penalty. Because he did not serve it in the short time that still remained, it was subsequently converted into a time penalty. However, the Australian still retains his overall lead in the championship. He goes into the six remaining races at Zandvoort (19th - 21st August) and at the Hockenheimring (30th September - 2nd October) with 297 points on the board. Schumacher follows in second place on 251 points while Ortmann is third on 180. Further comments on the ADAC Formula 4 race: Thomas Preining (winner, Lechner Racing):"With the weekend having got off to such a bad start, we can feel very happy about this result. Early on, we were simply lacking in terms of pace. Now we're looking forward to Zandvoort - we've already done testing there, and that went well." Juri Vips (third overall and Best Rookie, Prema Powerteam): "From my perspective, that was another good race. I went from P6 to P2, which was a good performance. Overall, we can be satisfied with the weekend."
