Two for two for Johannes Leidinger at the Red Bull Ring
26-year-old Johannes Leidinger took his fourth consecutive win of the season and his sixth from ten races to move to within two points of Jens Weimann in the drivers’ standings at the Red Bull Ring.
Starting from pole position for the standing start second race, the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver cut across to the inside as the lights went out to block Weimann’s Thate Motorsport BMW into the first corner, who’d had a better start from second on the grid. Weimann attempted to switch back to the outside but was unable to make the pass and had to settle for second.
In Division 2, David Griessner got away in the class lead in his ETH Tuning Peugeot 207 Sport, whilst Nils Mierschke and Ralf Glatzel resumed their race one battle in their Ford Fiestas, running side-by-side for almost half a lap before Glatzel gave the position up to Mierschke.
The race was a general procession for the first ten laps, with Weimann fighting to find his way past Leidinger’s BMW for the lead, with Mierschke and Glatzel battling for second in the Division 2 class. Behind them, Engstler Ford driver Thomas Krebs was defending fourth from Glatzel’s team-mate Yury Krauchuk whilst the third Glatzel Racing Ford of Kai Jordan was holding off the only female driver in the field, Engstler’s Julia Trampert for tenth overall.
The S2000 cars threaded through the S1600 cars again after nine laps, with Weimann again coming across Glatzel in the final corner, but this time he was able to get through without incident. The following lap however, a mistake by Weimann saw him lose ten seconds as he continued to hound Leidinger’s car for the lead, leaving the Engstler driver to take a comfortable victory.
All the action was reserved for the last few laps in Division 2, with Belarussian driver Yury Krauchuk passing Kreb’s Ford for fourth in class, which then became third when the boot of Mierschke’s Ford Fiesta ST flew open, forcing the 2011 D2 champion into the pits for the team to close it, handing Glatzel second place in class.
On the final lap, Krebs ran into Krauchuk at the final corner, but Krauchuk was able to continue on and still finish third in the category, whilst Krebs found himself falling to last position behind the re-booted Fiesta of Mierschke.
Weimann continues to lead the Divison 1 standings on 78 points, whilst Leidinger is now just two points adrift on 76 points, the only two drivers who are competing in the Super 2000 Division 1 category for the full season.
David Griessner’s seventh win in the Division 2 class from ten races sees the Austrian now lead the category on 84 points, with Ralf Glatzel on 68 points, 16 points behind heading to the next round of the Series at the Lausitzring on September 1st.
