Beer beats Kremer to reverse-grid victory at Hockenheim

Photo: ADAC Formel Masters

Neuhauser Racing’s Nicolas Beer emerged victorious in the final race of the ADAC Formel Masters season, overtaking Jason Kremer for the race lead on the last lap.

Reverse-grid poleman Benedikt Gentgen maintained the lead off the start, holding off pressure from Lotus drivers Indy Dontje and Mikkel Jensen early in the race. However, as Gentgen and the Lotus men found themselves three-wide into the hairpin, Kremer took advantage of the compromised racing lines by going on the inside and into the race lead.

From that point on, Kremer started pulling away from second-placed Dontje, establishing a gap of two seconds over the Dutchman. Soon enough, however, the Lotus driver had to yield against a charging Beer, who took over as Kremer’s main worry.

Over the race distance, Beer methodically closed in on the lead, which allowed him to put pressure on Kremer in the final stages of the race. The Dane would attempt several moves into the hairpin, but, with Kremer sticking to the inside line, they were unsuccessful up until the final lap. In a last-ditch effort, Beer went for another hairpin move, but instead managed to pull off a dummy overtake on the inside, seizing the lead as Kremer ran wide.

The Neuhauser Racing driver narrowly held on to his lead over the subsequent few corners and was finally clear to cruise to the checkered flag when Kremer ended up outbraking himself, which forced him to settle for second.

Dontje salvaged the race for Lotus by taking third, keeping series champion Alessio Picariello at bay for almost half the race distance. Ralph Boschung took fifth from sixteenth on the grid, ahead of Jensen and Red Bull junior Beitske Visser.

Fabian Schiller, Maximilian Gunther and Callan O’Keeffe rounded out the top ten.

The race saw a number of incidents, with Marvin Dienst and Gentgen finishing their races early due to a crash into the hairpin and another Neuhauser man Stefan Riener being disqualified from the race.

Championship standings