Armstrong dominates two European Formula 4 championships

Christchurch’s Marcus Armstrong has become the first driver to lead both the German and Italian Formula 4 Championships.

The narrowest of margins separate team-mates Marcus Armstrong (NZ) and Juri Vips (Estonia) after the latest round of the German Formula 4 Championship on the 3.7 kilometre at Sachsenring circuit in Saxony, Germany.

With two podium finishes, 17-year old Armstrong is 1.5 points clear of his Prema team-mate, 212 – 210.5 in a field of 34 very fast race drivers. He led race one briefly until the race was red flagged after a three-car tangle, but was overtaken at the safety car controlled restart by eventual winner Julian Hanses. Late in the race Fabio Scherer made a risky pass to take second. In the next race Armstrong harried Scherer all the way to the finish – and at the same time banked enough points to take the championship lead. Sophia Flörsch was third. In the reverse grid race three, Armstrong started eighth and forged through to finish sixth.

“Overall, a good weekend in Sachsenring. I had a good feeling with the car on new tyres but not on used ones which is why our race pace was not overwhelming. However with two podiums and a sixth in the reverse grid race we took the lead in the championship by a very small margin, which will make the final round at Hockenheim very interesting!”

Third on 190.5 points is Brazil’s Felipe Drugovich.

Armstrong now leads the Italian and German Formula 4 championships.

The Prema team, meanwhile, secured the teams’ title over the weekend. The Italian squad, lining-up for the penultimate round of the German ADAC-promoted Formula 4 series, secured the teams’ championship with still one round and three races to spare with an extremely smart performance from their driver pairing.

“Massive congratulations to Prema for taking the teams’ championship for the second year running in ADAC F4. I’m proud to have been part of this success for them,” Armstrong said.

Christchurch born and raised, Marcus Armstrong is the first New Zealander to be inducted into the elite Ferrari Driver Academy.

The 2017 ADAC FIA Formula 4 Championship concludes at the 4.574 km Hockenheimring circuit in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, September 22-24.

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

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