Dontje wins hectic race three at Spielberg

Photo: ADAC Formel Masters

Lotus driver Indy Dontje secured his second victory of the year? in an incident-filled reverse-grid race of the ADAC Formel Masters round at Spielberg.

Fabian Schiller started the race on pole and managed to get away from the line well, maintaining the race lead. However, before too soon, the race was under safety car, after Jason Kremer and Alessio Picariello came together, which put the Belgian championship leader out of the race and Kremer at the end of the pack.

The second period of green flag racing also didn’t last very long. Schiller made a great restart, but it was under safety car shortly, as Mikkel Jensen spun, exiting out of Red Bull Mobile, and stalled his car on the main straight.

The race turned completely hectic for the final restart. Schiller didn’t manage to get away quicker than the rest and soon came under pressure, losing the lead almost right away. Red Bull junior Beitske Visser took over in first, but soon found herself under pressure from teammate Dontje, as well as other drivers. In a crowded fight for the lead, Dontje came through as the clear first, but the Dutchman couldn’t break away from the pack, leaving the battle for victory somewhat open.

The drivers behind Dontje were swapping all the time and, eventually, it inevitably resulted in a crash. Visser made an overoptimistic move for Kim-Luis Schramm for what was then P5 and they tangled. The Lotus car was fine, yet Schramm ended up bouncing into his teammate Maximilian Gunther, which end the race for the latter. The running was almost immediately stopped with a red flag.

Post-race, the results were rolled two laps back. Dontje ended up the winner, while Schramm and Gunther took the two podium spots, despite having went down the order the laps prior to the red flag. On what turned out to be the final lap, it was Visser who had second place, but she then received a 30-second penalty for the incident, which dropped her out of the points.

Nicolas Beer took fourth, ahead of poleman Schiller and Marvin Dienst. Stefan Riener was seventh, holding off Ralph Boschung, who started the race in last place. Finally, Jason Kremer recovered to ninth, while Callan O’Keeffe rounded out the top ten.

Race results