Spielberg DTM: Wittmann holds off Blomqvist for Race 1 win
Marco Wittmann headed a BMW 1-2 in the first race of the DTM meeting at Spielberg, keeping steady under pressure from Tom Blomqvist.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The win was Wittmann's sixth in the series and his first in 2016 after the Hockenheim opener yielded only four points.
It was a controlled start for Wittmann, the 2014 champion holding off Blomqvist into Turn 1, as Mortara passed teammate Adrien Tambay for third.
And that would mark the beginning of a difficult opening stint for the Frenchman, who then slipped behind Timo Glock into Remus and was also passed by Martin Tomczyk on corner exit.
This made it four BMW cars in the top five and it appeared that the Bavarian marque's duo of Wittmann and Blomqvist would quickly pull away from Mortara.
However, that would not be the case, the front row starters running half a second apart throughout the entire opening half of the race, with Audi's Italian lone wolf hanging on.
The race finally settled down at that point, Wittmann gaining a few more tenths on Blomqvist to ensure he would comfortably see out the race to the chequered flag.
Having withstood brief pressure from Glock, Mortara soon shook off the ex-F1 driver to deny BMW a podium lockout, with Tomczyk finishing a close fifth behind Glock.
While the status quo was being maintained in the top five, Tambay continued to tumble down the order, passed by Maxime Martin, Antonio Felix da Costa and Paul di Resta.
Of those overtakes, the Portuguese driver's move took place in the Remus corner under yellow flags, as Dani Juncadella had parked his Mercedes there following a collision with teammate Christian Vietoris. As such, Felix da Costa was swiftly handed a drive-through penalty.
As a result, di Resta followed Martin home in seventh, finishing as the top Mercedes in the field, with Tambay taking eighth.
Augusto Farfus claimed ninth, making it six BMW cars in the top 10, while Audi's Nico Muller muscled his way into the top 10.
Race results
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | Marco Wittmann | BMW | 42:10.795 |
2 | Tom Blomqvist | BMW | 0.726 |
3 | Edoardo Mortara | Audi | 1.251 |
4 | Timo Glock | BMW | 5.566 |
5 | Martin Tomczyk | BMW | 6.222 |
6 | Maxime Martin | BMW | 10.712 |
7 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes | 12.182 |
8 | Adrien Tambay | Audi | 12.736 |
9 | Augusto Farfus | BMW | 15.146 |
10 | Nico Muller | Audi | 15.750 |
11 | Robert Wickens | Mercedes | 16.505 |
12 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi | 17.084 |
13 | Bruno Spengler | BMW | 18.730 |
14 | Jamie Green | Audi | 21.135 |
15 | Maximilian Gotz | Mercedes | 21.292 |
16 | Mattias Ekstrom | Audi | 21.783 |
17 | Timo Scheider | Audi | 22.534 |
18 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes | 24.050 |
19 | Miguel Molina | Audi | 24.743 |
20 | Esteban Ocon | Mercedes | 25.610 |
21 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes | 26.430 |
22 | Antonio Felix da Costa | BMW | 28.871 |
Ret | Christian Vietoris | Mercedes | |
Ret | Dani Juncadella | Mercedes |
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