A storming charge to second in soaking conditions at the Nurburgring last weekend (August 29-31) earned Ralph Boschung his eighth ADAC Formel Masters podium of 2014.
Another rostrum finish for the 16-year-old saw the Swiss youngster maintain his record of scoring a top-three result at every meeting so far this season, although his weekend in the Eifel Mountains was not without incident.
Indeed, the championship’s return to Germany did little to help the LOTUS driver’s fortunes as reliability issues with the engine – similar to those sustained during pre-Slovakia testing in July – returned during free practice and qualifying, necessitating a change of unit ahead of Saturday’s opening race.
Furthermore, problems with his car’s front and rear dampers saw Ralph qualify only 11th, which quickly became 14th after being penalised for the engine swap.
Despite making a promising start to the opening race from last, an unusual incident neutered Boschung’s progress through the field. The loss of his right mirror rendered his defence into the tricky Turn 1 useless and allowed LOTUS team-mate Luis-Enrique Breuer, Igor Walilko and Nico Menzel to pass, dropping him to 12th. Having slipped out of the points, Ralph opted to save his tyres by retiring with two laps remaining.
The significance of Boschung’s wet-weather skills was evident during Saturday’s second contest though when heavy rain soaked the Nurburgring’s Sprint layout during the afternoon. Taking advantage of an early Safety Car period helped him rapidly climb up to fourth before engaging in a race-long battle with Maximilian Gunther that eventually led to Boschung claiming second, just behind victor Marvin Dienst.
But by lacking the same straight-line speed as his rivals, a repeat of Ralph’s race two heroics always looked unlikely when he lined up seventh for Sunday afternoon’s dry final encounter. And despite the fickle Eifel weather threatening to return before the start, Boschung still demonstrated his fighting spirit by battling hard to finish fifth on the road, before a subsequent 30-second post-race penalty for clashing with Dennis Marschall dropped him to 13th.
However, another difficult start to a race weekend left Ralph pondering what might have been, despite claiming his eighth ADAC Formel Masters podium of the year.
“Unfortunately, we suffered further engine and handling issues throughout practice and qualifying, which compromised our weekend,” admitted Ralph. “After qualifying 11th we changed the engine, which was slightly down on power, as we knew the penalty for doing so would be minimal. Then in the first race we were extremely unfortunate to lose the right mirror, which left me powerless to defend into right-handed turns.
“We also struggled set-up-wise all weekend, so a wet second race was very welcome! The car felt good in the wet and it helps that I enjoy driving in those conditions. Fighting with Maximilian Gunther was really good fun, and I was extremely happy to regain some of the points that we’d lost in race one. However, I’m slightly disappointed that we couldn’t challenge Marvin Dienst for victory in the latter stages.
“During Sunday’s race, it was unfortunate that I collided with Dennis [Marschall]. He squeezed me off the circuit at Turn 2, and although I re-joined close behind him, he was very slow exiting Turn 4 and I couldn’t avoid him. He was sideways coming out of the corner, so it was disappointing to receive a penalty after minimal contact spun him around. However, there’s little we can do about it now.
“It’s frustrating that we have encountered these problems during the last few races – we struggle during free practice and qualifying, which forces us to catch up throughout the weekend. Hopefully we can be better prepared at Sachsenring.
“Nonetheless, I’m very happy with the podium and my record of finishing in the top-three at least once at every meeting this season. And as always, I’d like to say a very big thank you to my ever-faithful partners Petrol Energy, B63, Hublot, Avanthay&Partners, and Audi, who continue to provide me with brilliant support. It really means a lot.”
The ADAC Formel Masters season continues at Sachsenring next month (September 19-21) with the seventh and penultimate round.
