The kick off event for the ADAC Formula 4 championship 2016 at Motopark Oschersleben brought Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) immediate success. At the twisty track near Magdebourg Joey Mawson (20) managed to win two races and finish as runner up after a reverse grid start in the third and final race. Also the other two VAR youngsters Kami Laliberté (16) and Moritz Mueller-Crepon (19) showed their potential by collecting their first championship points.
From the moment the business got serious Joey proved to be the fastest at the Oschersleben track: the Aussie secured pole positions for both races with a clear margin. Three tenths of a second ahead of Kim Luis Schramm (01:26:543) for the first race, two tenths ahead of his German rival during his second best lap. With two times eight place for Moritz and a double eleventh quickest time for Kami we came pretty close to having all three cars in the top 10.
Race 1: Joey (p1), Moritz (p5), Kami (p25)
Rain fell just before the race, delaying the start. We switched to wet tires for Joey and Moritz, and took the gamble to keep Kami’s car on slicks, anticipating on a drying track. The season started behind the safety car for two laps, before 35 young guns were released. Joey grabbed a comfortable lead from the beginning, and his hegemony was not jeopardized by the three safety car inventions. The VAR driver kept cool at every re-start, so at first chance Joey collected his first victory of the season.
Moritz made progress from ninth position. After gaining two places he battled for third place in the race. The Swiss newcomer at VAR showed his skills and eventually was rewarded with fifth place and 10 championship points. Since the rain kept falling Kami fought an unfair fight, lacking grip with his slicks, and ended the tire gamble in 25th position
Race 2: Joey (p1), Kami (p8), Moritz (dnf)
Second race, second win. At Sunday morning Joey did it again. From pole position he showed both pace and patience. Just like the first meeting this raced started behind the safety car because of the rain. Also this time three safety car appearances did not effect his leading position. Mawson ultimately reached the finish line 1.757 seconds up on Schramm and 3.681 seconds ahead of Mike David Ortmann.
At the second wet race of the weekend Kami Laliberté bounced back from a disappointing first race. Our Canadian talent showed some good overtaking, stayed out of trouble and was rewarded with his first championship points of the season. With his march from eleventh to eight position Kami earned four points. Moritz did not make it to the finish after a racing incident with Sophia Flörsch.
Race 3: Joey (p2), Moritz (p15), Kami (dnf)
Under sunny conditions Joey made a excellent weekend even more impressive in the last race at Sunday afternoon. His hunger for succes was still burning after two victories. The top 10 reverse order grid, meant that Joey had to battle his way up from fifth row. And the Aussie did: he was on the podium again! Steady but sure he worked his way up to the second position, finishing 1.367 sec. behind winner and former VAR driver Mick Schumacher. Two victories and a runner up spot hands Joey the lead in the championship with a margin of 19 points on Schumacher.
Moritz stalled his engine at the second restart and was dropped back to the 25th position. After the safety car came in, the ambitious Swiss driver showed character at the restart by fighting his way forward. A good pace helped him to finish in fifteenth position. After the wrong tyre choice in race one, Kami was forced to start in 25th position (the results in race 1 determine the starting position for race 3) and proved rather unlucky when trying to avoid contact when cars in front of him crashed. Our young Canadian went off track, got stock in the gravel and had to call it quit together with three other drivers
About Van Amersfoort Racing
Van Amersfoort Racing is a Dutch based racing team competing in the FIA F3 European Championship and ADAC FIA Formula 4 Championship. The team was founded in 1975 by Frits van Amersfoort. Over the years it has won many national and international championships which make VAR one of the most successful racing teams in Europe. Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen, Huub Rothengatter, Christijan Albers and Tom Coronel are a few big names in motorsport who have driven for Van Amersfoort Racing over the years.
