Marvin Kirchhofer was not bothered by the drizzle. The rookie from the Lotus team left all competitors behind him. The 19-year old from Leipzig drove across the finish line with a lead of more than 22 seconds. His team-mate Artem Markelov from Russia finished second, followed by the American Gustavo Menezes, contesting for the Van Amersfoort Racing team, who had a perfect start. Freddy Killensberger from Wortelstetten dominated the Trophy rating, closely followed by his team-mate Sebastian Balthasar, who secured the victory in the end. The first race of the season at the etropolis Motorsportarena Oschersleben set a positive signal.
The domination in the starting grid was obvious: Three Lotus cars at the top, followed by three Performance Racing vehicles. Contesting for Van Amersfoort Racing, Gustavo Menezes, who had an excellent start and pushed to the fourth place in the first lap, finished seventh. Swiss Yannick Mettler for Performance Racing finished third; Russian Artem Markelov from the Lotus team secured the second place and local hero, Marvin Kirchhfer, who also contests for Lotus won the Cup rating in the Dallara F311 Volkswagen Power Engine. His team-mate, Briton Emil Bernstorff, and the South African Aston Hare from the EuroInternational team crashed in the first turn. Bernstorff was able to continue driving after spinning and gained the twelfth place. However, it resulted in an early retirement for Aston Hare. This race was clearly dominated by Kirchhfer. The 19-year old from Leipzig continued to extend his lead and won the race with a lap time of 1:38.559, a sensational 22-second lead. Markelov finished second, followed by Menezes, who was able to overtake Mettler in the final lap.
Trophy drivers among the top10Freddy Killensberger from Wortelstetten dominated the Trophy rating throughout the race. He contested the race for the GU-Racing team in his Dallara F307 OPC-Challenge. His team-mate Sebastian Balthasar in a Dallara F311 Mercedes was close behind. Both finished among the top10 of the Cup rating and scored additional points. Even though 17-year old Killensberger drove across the finish line ahead of 16-year old Balthasar, he received a time penalty of 30 seconds for the fastest sector time under yellow flag. As a result, Balthasar was the first winner of the 2013 Trophy rating.
Marvin Kirchhofer: I cannot describe how I feel right now. It was an excellent start into the new season. I am very happy and I hope that we continue working so well together and that we will be just as successful.Artem Markelov: Thats a good result for me and the whole team. And I just want to thank the whole team. What a great day!Gustavo Menezes: The start was really good. I could have done better but I do not want to complain. I just pushed as hard as I could and stayed on the track. That was the most important thing to do.Sebastian Balthasar: It is too bad for Freddy but we are on top of the overall standings. It is still a good race result for me. Im very happy.
