Formula BMW ADAC Championship - Rounds 15 and 16 - Nürburgring - Race

Buemi takes over championship lead.

Nürburg. This weekend at the Nürburgring, the spotlight turned on 16-year-old
Sébastien Buemi (CHE/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg). The Swiss driver won both the
15th and the 16th race to move into the lead in the Formula BMW ADAC
Championship. On Saturday Buemi beat Tim Sandtler (Bochum/ AM-Holzer Rennsport)
and Nicolas Hülkenberg (Emmerich/Josef Kaufmann Racing). On Sunday, he was the
first to take the chequered flag ahead of his cousin Natacha Gachnang
(CHE/Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Nick de Bruijn (NLD/Josef Kaufmann Racing).

"I managed to win on the Nürburgring for the first time, and twice in a row.
Now I can sniff the championship in the air," said Buemi. As the Mücke
Motorsport driver and 17-year-old Gachnang held the trophies aloft for the
photographers, he was beaming from ear to ear. "For us it's the greatest family
success we've ever achieved," stated the only female participant in the
25-strong field of competitors. Buemi had previously won the third championship
race on the Eurospeedway Lausitz, but Gachnang had "only" finished third.
Thanks to his two race wins this weekend, Buemi drew level with Hülkenberg in
the championship rankings: both have six wins under their belt so far this
season.

Another driver happy with his performance was Sunday's third-placed finisher:
"We were driving in difficult conditions," reported de Bruijn. "At the start of
the race it was dry, then with two laps to go it suddenly started raining
heavily." The Dutchman climbed onto the podium for the third time this season.
"I'm already looking forward to my home race in Zandvoort. My house is just
half an hour away from the circuit. I want to finish in the top three there as
well." Zandvoort in Holland is the next stop-off point for the Formula BMW ADAC
Championship on the weekend of 26th to 28th August.

After finishing third and fourth on the tradition-steeped race track in the
Eifel, Hülkenberg was forced to cede the top slot in the championship standings
to his rival Buemi. The Swiss driver now has 235 points, putting him in the
lead over Hülkenberg (229) and João Urbano (POR/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg,128).
In the Rookie Championship, Hülkenberg had already secured an early title on
the Norisring. After 16 out of 20 races, the 17-year-old has a tally of 294
points, followed by de Bruijn (170) and Martin Ragginger (AUT/ADAC
Berlin-Brandenburg, 151).

The best recovery performances were delivered by rookie drivers Sergio Perez
Mendoza (MEX/4speed Media) and Johnny Cecotto jun. (Munich/Mamerow Racing).
Mendoza started from 24th on the grid and finished in ninth place. Cecotto
entered the race from 19th place and made it into the points by finishing tenth.

Race 16, placings:
1. Sébastien Buemi (CHE/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg) 23:27.242, 2. Natacha Gachnang
(CHE/Josef Kaufmann Racing) 23:31.562, 3. Nick de Bruijn (NLD/Josef Kaufmann
Racing) 23:32.587, 4. Nicolas Hülkenberg (Emmerich/Josef Kaufmann Racing)
23:33.083, 5. Jonathan Summerton (USA/Team Rosberg) 23:36.978, 6. Martin
Ragginger (AUT/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg) 23:38.966, 7. Marco Idili (NLD/HBR
Motorsport) 23.42.067, 8. Tim Sandtler (Bochum/AM-Holzer Rennsport) 23:43.039,
9. Sergio Perez Mendoza (MEX/4speed Media) 23:50.166, 10. Johnny Cecotto jun.
(Munich/Mamerow Racing) 23:50.397, 11. Mika Mäki (FIN/Mika Mäki) 23:50.813, 12.
Chris van der Drift (NLD/Team Rosberg) 23:50.929, 13. Andzej Dzikevic (LTU/ADAC
Berlin-Brandenburg) 23:52.065, 14. Dominik Wasem (Seiboldsdorf/HBR Motorsport)
23:52.760, 15. Tobias Hegewald (Waldbreitbach/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg)
23:55.514, 16. Christian Vietoris (Lissendorf/MLX-Eifelland Racing) 23:57.863,
17. João Urbano (POR/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg) 23:59.007, 18. Marco Holzer
(Bobingen/AM-Holzer Rennsport) 23:59.363, 19. Fabio Onidi (ITA/Eifelland
Racing) 23:59.641, 20. Markus Niemelä (FIN/Team Rosberg) 24:02.915. DNF: Jiri
Micanek jun (CZE/Czech National Team), Stefano Coletti (MCO/Eifelland Racing),
Jens Höing (Berlin/Team Rosberg), Henri Karjalainen (FIN/Team Rosberg), Harald
Schlegelmilch (LVA/AM-Holzer Rennsport). Pole position: Buemi. Fastest race
lap: Buemi 1:37.222 min. Circuit length: 50.806 km (14 laps).

Race 16, Rookie placings (newcomers to the Formula series):
1. de Bruijn (NLD/Josef Kaufmann Racing), 2. Hülkenberg (Emmerich/Josef
Kaufmann Racing), 3. Ragginger (AUT/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg), 4. Idili (NLD/
HBR Motorsport), 5. Perez Mendoza (MEX/4speed Media), 6. Cecotto jun.
(Munich/Mamerow Racing), 7. Mäki (FIN/Mika Mäki), 8. Hegewald
(Waldbreitbach/ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg), 9. Vietoris (Lissendorf/MLX-Eifelland
Racing). Nicht gewertet: Coletti (MCO/Eifelland Racing), Höing (Berlin/Team
Rosberg).

Championship standings after 16 out of 20 races:
1. Buemi (235), 2. Hülkenberg (229), 3. Urbano (128), 4. van der Drift (125),
5. de Bruijn (87), 6. Gachnang (79), 7. Sandtler (58), 8. Niemelä (55), 9.
Ragginger (45), 10. Summerton (44), 11. Mäki (41), 12. Holzer (40), 13. Onidi
(39), 14. Perez Mendoza (37), 15. Leuchter (16), 16. Coletti (12), 17. Idili
(9), 18. Vietoris (5), 19. Cecotto (3), 20. Höing (2), 21. Hegewald (2), 22.
Dzikevic (2), 23. Karjalainen (2), 24. Schlegelmilch (1).

Rookie standings:
1. Hülkenberg (294), 2. de Bruijn (170), 3. Ragginger (151), 4. Mäki (121), 5.
Perez Mendoza (119), 6. Coletti (90), 7. Idili (87), 8. Hegewald (84), 9.
Vietoris (65), 10. Cecotto jun. (52), 11. Höing (43).