Maxime Martin scores maiden DTM victory in Moscow
In a dominant way, the Belgian won ahead of his fellow BMW driver Bruno Spengler
Podium: race winner Maxime Martin celebrates
ITR eV
Moscow. Maxime Martin is the buoyant winner of the fifth DTM season round in Moscow. After his maiden pole position, the Belgian drove his BMW M4 DTM to his first ever victory in the most popular international touring car series. From the start of the race, the 28-year-old pulled clear from the opposition and took the chequered flag after 46 laps with a margin of 4.259 seconds from Bruno Spengler (BMW). “A perfect day for me. After a good start, I was able to pull away continuously with the soft tyres. There were two safety car phases in the race and I was really worried that I could lose my leading position because of that. Nevertheless, I managed and I am now overjoyed. First pole, then this victory – just fantastic,” the BMW driver enthused. In total 50,000 spectators attended the DTM’s second visit to Russia.
Mattias Ekström took the final podium slot after finishing third. The Swedish Audi driver impressed the numerous fans on the grandstands with a strong charge through the field from eleventh on the grid and crossed the finish line 9.454 seconds down on Martin. The two times’ DTM champion commented his podium success in Moscow as follows: “It was a surprise that we weren’t better in qualifying. However, the Sunday is much more important and that is when we showed a good performance. I had a nice race including some great battles with Timo Glock. I am really happy with my third podium finish of the season.”
After a disappointing qualifying, the Mercedes-Benz drivers were successful in damage limitation and scored points. Christian Vietoris, who started the race from 21st place with his DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé, finished in seventh place ahead of his fellow Mercedes-Benz driver, Pascal Wehrlein. “For us, the situation is still difficult. We do what we can. For me, this was the best race of my career. We are working very hard and continue to give everything to improve,” Vietoris commented.
BMW driver Marco Wittmann showed his competitive spirit and was classified fourth. With 70 points, the German is the ‘half-time champion’ in the DTM. His main rival in the battle for the title is Mattias Ekström, who is 20 points down. Mike Rockenfeller had to accept a huge setback in the battle for the title. The Audi driver, who scored points in every round so far, now had to park his Audi RS 5 DTM following a collision.
After Moscow, the DTM is heading to Austria for its third race of the year outside of Germany. The sixth round of the season takes place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, August 3.
Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director: “I am totally happy with Maxime Martin’s victory and the overall result. The young boy drove victory home in a very cool way. That was great. Another important factor was that Marco Wittmann achieved a decent point score.”
Dieter Gass, head of DTM, Audi: “Certainly, the race didn’t go quite according to our plan, because we intended to repeat our victory from last year. Unfortunately, however, we made too many mistakes. Mattias Ekström has shown an impressive performance during the race. With a better starting grid position, he certainly could have achieved even more.”
Wolfgang Schattling, head of DTM management, Mercedes-Benz: “The race wasn’t easy, but that is what we had expected after the disappointing qualifying. Having two cars in the points is a conciliatory result for Mercedes-Benz.”
The race at a glance
Start
Martin takes the lead from Spengler, Müller, Rockenfeller. Green spins coming out of turn 1 after contact with Mortara, who goes also off the track.
Lap 1
Ekström overtakes Farfus, Wittmann overtakes Rockenfeller.
Lap 2
Ekström overtakes Rockenfeller and is now sixth.
Lap 3
Martin is leading with a 1.7 seconds margin from Spengler, then Müller, Tambay, Wittmann, Ekström, Rockenfeller, Glock, Farfus and Vietoris. Glock overtakes Rockenfeller before the final corner and takes seventh place.
Lap 4
Vietoris overtakes Farfus and is now eighth.
Lap 5
Tomczyk overtakes Wickens and is now eleventh.
Lap 7
Wittmann attacks Tambay for fourth, but no changes yet. Green off the track following a suspension problem of the right rear wheel; he parks the car behind the barrier and retires.
Lap 8
Vietoris overtakes Rockenfeller and is now eighth.
Lap 9
Di Resta off the track, takes the escape road.
Lap 10
Tomczyk overtakes Farfus for tenth.
Lap 11
Tambay overtakes Müller for third. Müller now has Ekström and Wittmann right behind him, they both get past, too.
Lap 12
Müller under heavy pressure from Glock for sixth place, but the Swiss still manages to keep the German at bay. Then, on the long back straight, Glock charges his way past Müller.
Lap 13
Wehrlein overtakes Farfus and is now eleventh.
Lap 14
Race control has decided that Glock has to hand his sixth position back again to Müller, because Glock's overtaking manoeuvre was too hard.
Lap 15
Tomczyk past Rockenfeller, he is now ninth.
Lap 16
Glock overtakes Wittmann and is fifth, Müller comes into the pits for his first mandatory stop.
Lap 17
Mortara past Farfus for eleventh.
Lap 18
Wittmann into the pits.
Lap 19
Wehrlein overtakes Rockenfeller for ninth.
Lap 21
Wehrlein overtakes Tomczyk coming out of the final corner and is now seventh.
Lap 22
Ekström, Wehrlein, Tomczyk, Mortara into the pits.
Lap 23
Martin, Spengler, Tambay, Glock, Vietoris come into the pits as Timo Scheider's car is stuck on the main straight. The safety car is deployed.
Lap 28
Pit stop window increased to lap 37. Green flag at the start of the lap. Rockenfeller off the track after collision with Tambay, retires. Safety car deployed again.
Lap 29
Martin is leading from Spengler, Glock, Ekström, Farfus, Molina, Wittmann, Félix da Costa, Vietoris and Hand.
Lap 31
Pit stop window increased to lap 42.
Lap 33
Safety car in at the end of this lap.
Lap 34
Racing resumes. Maximum laps option tyres increased to lap 38.
Lap 35
Vietoris overtakes Félix da Costa for eighth place. Farfus, Molina, Félix da Costa, Wickens, Juncadella into the pits.
Lap 36
Hand, Paffett and Petrov into the pits.
Lap 38
Müller overtakes Vietoris for sixth.
Lap 39
After all the stops, Martin is leading from Spengler, Glock, Ekström, Wittmann, Müller, Vietoris, Wehrlein, Mortara and Tomczyk.
Lap 41
Tomczyk drops back to 13th after being overtaken by Farfus, Molina and Félix da Costa.
Lap 43
The race will be run to the maximum duration, 4.30 minutes left.
Lap 44
Molina attacks Farfus for tenth, the two tangle, but Farfus defends his position. Félix da Costa attacks Molina and gets past.
Lap 45
Wittmann and Ekström overtake Glock for third and fourth.
Lap 46
Final lap. Martin wins from Spengler, Ekström, Wittmann, Müller, Glock, Vietoris, Wehrlein, Mortara and Farfus.
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