ADAC Formula 4 at the Nürburgring: Son of ex-Formula 1 driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, in Prema's line-up
Munich: While we will have to wait until October before the Nürburgring hosts Formula 1, the famous circuit in the Eifel will be imbued with a touch of the premier class this weekend when Sebastian Montoya (15, Colombia, Prema Powerteam), the son of ex-Formula 1 driver and two-time Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya, makes his ADAC Formula 4 debut during the second race weekend of the season at the Nürburgring (14th - 16th August). He is one of three Prema Powerteam drivers, competing in the ADAC High-Speed Academy for the first time this weekend.
SPORT1 will broadcast at least one race live on free-to-air television every weekend, and racing can also be watched on SPORT1+. All races are available online as live stream with commentary in German or English at SPORT1.de, youtube.com/adac and adac.de/motorsport.
Apart from Montoya, Dino Beganovic (16, Sweden) and Gabriele Mini (16, Italy) will be lining up for Italian outfit, Prema Powerteam, which will contest certain ADAC Formula 4 events during 2020. Francesco Pizzi (15, Italy) is also new at Van Amersfoort Racing this weekend. His team-mates, Jak Crawford (15, USA) and Jonny Edgar (16, Great Britain), dominated the ADAC Formula 4 opening weekend at the Lausitzring earlier this month. The two Red Bull Juniors determined the course of the action with their speed, although Crawford was unlucky in the races. Despite achieving good starting positions, he did not manage to pick up a win. Instead, Edgar triumphed twice and leads the overall standings after the first three rounds of 21 in all. Elias Seppänen (16, Finland, US Racing) is in second place following his win in the final race at the Lausitzring and is Jonny Edgar's main rival in the overall standings.
Speaking of US racing, the race weekend at the Nürburgring is, of course, a very special one for the Kerpen-based outfit and the two men at its helm, Ralf Schumacher and Gerhard Ungar, because it's a home round where US Racing are keen to add even more victories to their tally. A look at the record books should give them some encouragement. In 2018, Lirim Zendeli won the championship title there early on before the season had even ended while in 2019, two wins went to the eventual champion, Theo Pourchaire, and one to Roman Stanek, both of whom were from US Racing.
The current cohort with Seppänen, Tim Tramnitz (15, Germany), the rookie supported by the ADAC Sport Foundation, Vlad Lomko (15, Russia) and Oliver Bearman (15, Great Britain) have already shown that they too can be fast. What's more, Tramnitz leads the Rookie classification after the opening round.
A similar thing can be seen at R-ace GP with Victor Bernier (16, France), who is currently third in the overall standings, and ADAC-Berlin Brandenburg eV where Paraguayan-born Joshua Dürksen (16) is aiming to turn his experience from the previous year into success. In 2019, he finished eleventh and seventh at the Nürburgring and retired once. He obviously wants to improve on his previous performance this time around.
The ADAC Formula 4 races at the Nürburgring will take place in accordance with measures designed to protect against infection developed by the ADAC GT Masters and approved by the authorities. A limited number of spectators will be able to watch the ADAC Formula 4 races in person at the circuit thanks to safety measures developed by Nürburgring staff. Tickets are only available online and must be booked in advance.