Picariello and Visser pick up Sunday wins at Sachsenring

Photo: ADAC Formel Masters

Championship leader Alessio Picariello and Red Bull Junior Team’s Beitske Visser were the winners of the two eventful wet ADAC Formel Masters races that closed out the Sachsenring round of the championship.

Picariello, looking to recover from losing out on the victory due to a penalty in race one, was the poleman for race two and enjoyed a masterful getaway from the line, immediately starting to build up a gap. While the race had multiple safety cars that consistently erased his advantage, the Dutchman recorded a pretty much flawless race, making the best out of the restarts every time to always stay in the lead until the checkered flag.

The race was turned upside down when a late shunt by Kim-Alexander Giersiepen brought out the safety car that remained until the very final lap. It was on that last lap when Lotus drivers Indy Dontje and Visser lost their podium positions, with the charging Marvin Dienst emerging in second and Mikkel Jensen taking third. Dontje himself finished fourth, with Hendrik Grapp taking fifth.

Nicolas Beer crossed the finish line in sixth, but was later penalised for impeding, giving the position to Jason Kremer, who himself recovered from a drive-through after sending Maximilian Gunther out of the race. Visser took seventh, ahead of Florian Herzog, Kim-Luis Schramm and Fabian Schiller.

Herzog and Visser lined up on the front row for the reverse-grid race and it was the Red Bull junior who took the lead into turn one. With Benedikt Gentgen and Martin Gatz falling prey to the difficult conditions, the race was under safety car from lap one and subsequently red-flagged after six total laps of running due to a rather noticeable thunderstorm. As such, Visser took the win, her first of the season, ahead of Grapp and Kremer. Herzog was fourth, with Dienst in fifth, Dontje in sixth and Picariello closing out the top eight with Jensen. Beer and Schramm picked up the final points.

Race two result

* Nicolas Beer received a 30-second penalty after the finish

Race three results