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Race report

Hungaroring DTM: Ekstrom wins, Mortara last after Wittmann contact

Mattias Ekstrom won what will be his final DTM race of the season at Budapest as title contenders Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann collided at the start.

Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM

Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM

Alexander Trienitz

Top 2 in qualifying, Edoardo Mortara, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi RS 5 DTM and Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM
Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM
Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM
Adrien Tambay, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi RS 5 DTM
Adrien Tambay, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi RS 5 DTM
Adrien Tambay, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi RS 5 DTM
Daniel Juncadella, Mercedes-AMG Team HWA, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM
Daniel Juncadella, Mercedes-AMG Team HWA, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM

From pole, Mortara had a slow start - allowing points leader Wittmann, who started right behind him, to get alongside.

Running on the outside of the Italian, Wittmann was forced off track but managed to get ahead regardless.

However, Wittmann started to move to the inside before he was fully ahead of Mortara, and was turned by the Audi as a result.

He spun into Jamie Green's Audi, although this turned his car straight and Wittmann managed to continue in fourth. Mortara on the other hand had to pit with a puncture, and Green retired.

Both Wittmann and Mortara received a warning following the incident.

Ekstrom escaped the chaos to lead off the line with Adrien Tambay lining up in second, and the Swede slowly increased his gap to over two seconds before pitting on Lap 24, two laps after Tambay.

Despite a small error during his stop, Ekstrom emerged in the lead and cruised to the finish to win his final DTM race of 2016, as he will skip the season finale in order to focus on his World Rallycross campaign.

Mercedes driver Daniel Juncadella was up to third after the start and, similarly to Tambay, claimed his first podium finish of the season.

Wittmann fell behind Antonio Felix da Costa during the pitstops, but he went past his BMW stablemate to claim fourth and extend his championship lead to 26 points.

The duo was followed by other two BMWs in Tom Blomqvist and Timo Glock.

Maxime Martin was eighth until late in the race, but was forced to give up his position to Timo Scheider and narrowly held off Mike Rockenfeller.

Robert Wickens, Mercedes' sole title contender, lined up on the wrong grid position at the start, which initiated an extra formation lap and he was forced to start last.

The Canadian recovered to 12th but, not scoring any points, he fell out of mathematical contention for the title.

Mortara meanwhile failed to recover from his early pitstop to finish 21st.

Race results:

PosDriverCarTime/Gap
1  Mattias Ekström  Audi 59'09.402
2  Adrien Tambay  Audi 4.350
3  Daniel Juncadella  Mercedes 15.870
4  Marco Wittmann  BMW 23.295
5  Antonio Felix da Costa  BMW 24.209
6  Tom Blomqvist  BMW  26.067
7  Timo Glock  BMW  26.813
8  Timo Scheider  Audi 31.792
9  Maxime Martin  BMW 38.310
10  Mike Rockenfeller  Audi  38.675
11  Martin Tomczyk  BMW 39.966
12  Robert Wickens  Mercedes 40.327
13  Felix Rosenqvist  Mercedes 40.710
14  Bruno Spengler  BMW 41.317
15  Paul di Resta  Mercedes 41.777
16  Christian Vietoris  Mercedes 42.352
17  Lucas Auer  Mercedes 42.755
18  Gary Paffett  Mercedes 43.015
19  Maximilian Götz  Mercedes 45.388
20  Miguel Molina  Audi 1'07.034
21  Edoardo Mortara  Audi  3 laps
Ret  Nico Müller  Audi   
Ret   Augusto Farfus  BMW   
Ret   Jamie Green  Audi  

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