Zandvoort DTM: Wittmann leads BMW 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
Reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann held off a determined challenge from stablemate Antonio Felix da Costa to win race one at Zandvoort, as BMW dominated in Holland.
Marco Wittmann, BMW Team RMG BMW M4 DTM
XPB Images
From pole position, Augusto Farfus was beaten away by Wittmann and da Costa on the run to the first corner.
Maxime Martin also squeezed past Farfus with a nudge on the exit of Tarzan to move into third, as Farfus was left to bang wheels with Gary Paffett’s Mercedes over fourth.
The safety car was required almost immediately when Paul di Resta ploughed into his Mercedes into the tyrewall at Turn 2 after he clipped the rear of Robert Wickens.
Witmann led the restart from da Costa, Martin, Farfus, Paffett and the leading Audi of Jamie Green.
Da Costa kept the pressure on Wittmann, the pair pulling clear of Martin, while Paffett battled hard with Farfus for fourth.
With 10 minutes remaining, da Costa began to attack Wittmann for the lead, but their duel was interrupted by points leader Green spinning out of sixth while under pressure from Bruno Spengler’s BMW.
The series’ first-ever ‘slow zone’ was employed to retrieve his car, but da Costa was closer than ever as the race entered its closing stages.
Red Bull-backed da Costa tried a couple of lunges to the inside of Tarzan, but Wittmann kept covering his moves and won by 0.4s.
Third-placed Martin closed up on the leaders to finish right on their tail, while Farfus held fourth after Paffett ran wide and into the gravel as he challenged the Brazilian into the high-speed Schievlak corner.
That meant BMW filled the top seven places, with Mike Rockenfeller’s Audi the best of the rest in eighth. The top Mercedes was Pascal Wehrlein in 10th.
Pos | Driver | Manufacturer | Time | Gap |
1 | Marco Wittmann | BMW | 42m30.240 | |
2 | Antonio Felix da Costa | BMW | 42m30.704 | 0.464 |
3 | Maxime Martin | BMW | 42m32.469 | 2.229 |
4 | Augusto Farfus | BMW | 42m34.008 | 3.768 |
5 | Bruno Spengler | BMW | 42m34.754 | 4.514 |
6 | Timo Glock | BMW | 42m36.294 | 6.054 |
7 | Tom Blomqvist | BMW | 42m37.513 | 7.273 |
8 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi | 42m38.077 | 7.837 |
9 | Nico Muller | Audi | 42m38.917 | 8.677 |
10 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes | 42m39.281 | 9.041 |
11 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes | 42m42.457 | 12.217 |
12 | Christian Vietoris | Mercedes | 42m43.146 | 12.906 |
13 | Mattias Ekstrom | Audi | 42m45.978 | 15.738 |
14 | Timo Scheider | Audi | 42m48.087 | 17.847 |
15 | Maximilian Gotz | Mercedes | 42m50.732 | 20.492 |
16 | Dani Juncadella | Mercedes | 42m54.876 | 24.636 |
17 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes | 42m55.896 | 25.656 |
18 | Adrien Tambay | Audi | 43m00.263 | 30.023 |
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