Starting off with a new F4 lap record
The speed was absolutely present for Van Amersfoort Racing at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Felipe Drugovich broke the Formula 4 lap record, scored his first ever pole position in ADAC Formula 4 and was that close by scoring another pole.
For 17 year old Louis Gachot his first event with Van Amersfoort Racing started in a very special way. Due to school exams the young Briton missed out on the free practices and the qualifying sessions. He arrived Friday evening in Germany, was cleared to race by the stewards, and had to start race 1 and race 2 from last position.
In the opening race Louis worked his way up from p25 to an impressive 13th position. In the hours the Briton did his exams his Brazilian team member Felipe Drugovich (16) grabbed the pole for race 1 with a margin of almost two tenths. It was the fastest lap ever with a Formula 4 car at Oschersleben. The newcomer at VAR also set the fastest qualifying lap for race 2, but missed out the pole as he was penalized by the stewards for infringing the track limits and had to settle for second.
After a modest start and a busy first turn for Felipe. He crossed the finish line in fourth but was penalized with 30 seconds afterwards for exceeding the track limits. Kami Laliberté (17) scored the first championship point for Van Amersfoort Racing in 2017 with his tenth place.
In race two Felipe bounced back with a steady performance. From the 2nd position he kept the pressure on Nicklas Nielsen and fended of the attacks by Fabio Scherer all 14 laps to claim a strong second position. Kami Laliberte scored his best result of the weekend in seventh. Unfortunately the Canadian youngster could not take advantage of his reversed grid pole start for race 3 due to missing his braking point and ending his race in the first corner.
It was a weekend of discovery for 15 year old Danish driver Fredrik Vesti, which had an impressive performance in free practice 2 (the last one before qualifying) finishing in 4th position. For the rest of the weekend, the youngster qualified and finished. With a 14th position in race 1 as the best result. Clearly there was a lot learned and things look promising for Frederik for the upcoming events.
Jeroen de Jong, team manager of the VAR Formula 4 squad: “In terms of results this was not the start we hoped for. But the speed of all drivers was encouraging. Felipe proved fast in both qualifying and races, but was quite unfortunate. Also Kami missed out that little luck, while Louis made the most out of a weekend during which he had to start from the back twice. And also Frederik showed a lot of progress during the weekend. Results will come, that is only a matter of time.”
Round 1 ADAC F4: Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
Race 1
1. Juri Vips Prema Powerteam 30:58.055 (20 laps)
2. Nicklas Nielsen US Racing + 2.122
3. Jonathan Aberdein Motopark + 2.880
10. Kami Laliberte-Moreira Van Amersfoort Racing + 8.961
13. Louis Gachot Van Amersfoort Racing + 13.089
14. Frederik Vesti Van Amersfoort Racing + 13.192
21. Felipe Drugovich Van Amersfoort Racing + 32.985
Race 2
1. Nicklas Nielsen US Racing 33:11.004 (14 laps)
2. Felipe Drugovich Van Amersfoort Racing + 0.482
3. Fabio Scherer US Racing + 0.95
7. Kami Laliberte Van Amersfoort Racing + 5.073
19. Louis Gachot Van Amersfoort Racing + 39.837
24. Frederik Vesti Van Amersfoort Racing
Race 3
1. Lirim Zendeli ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. 30:02.647 (18 laps)
2. Oliver Söderström ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. + 2.671
3. Jonathan Aberdein Motopark + 4.486
12. Felipe Drugovich Van Amersfoort Racing + 16.270
13. Louis Gachot Van Amersfoort Racing + 16.772
14. Frederik Vesti Van Amersfoort Racing + 17.745
24. Kami Laliberte Van Amersfoort Racing
Championship standings
1. Juri Vips (Prema Powerteam) 47; 2. Nicklas Nielsen (US Racing) 45; 3. Jonathan Aberdein (Motorpark) 35; 8. Felipe Drugovich (Van Amersfoort Racing) 18; 12. Kami Laliberte 7.
Team standings
1. Prema Powerteam 77; 2. US Racing 61; 3. Motopark 56; 5. Van Amersfoort Racing 47