Marco Wittmann emerged from the DTM event at the Hungaroring with a 14-point lead over Audi’s Edoardo Mortara, his closest rival for the drivers' championship.
Wittmann finished fourth on the track in the Sunday race in Hungary in the #11 Team RMG M4 DTM. Mortara, who had closed within six points of Wittmann with a win in race one on Saturday, battled with Wittmann and Audi racer Jamie Green for position on the first lap on Sunday. Wittmann moved up from his third starting position on the grid to overtake Mortara and Greene. When Mortara, whose car was out of shape, forced Wittmann onto the grass, the three cars came together. Wittmann recovered, Green retired, and Mortara had to pit with a puncture. He finished out of the points.
After the race the thickness of the skidpads on the underside of Wittmann’s car was found to be insufficient, so he was excluded from the results. Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella, who had finished third, was excluded for the same reason. Wittmann still leads the drivers’ championship, but by 14 points instead of 26, and third place Jamie Green, who would have been out of the running if Wittmann’s position held, is now a contender as well. Both BMW and Mercedes are appealing the ruling, so all finishing positions and points standings are provisional for now.
The win on Sunday went to Audi racer Mattias Ekstrom. BMW racers finishing in the points were António Félix da Costa in third, Tom Blomqvist in fourth, Timo Glock in fifth, Maxime Martin in seventh, and Martin Tomczyk in ninth. On Saturday, in a race in which Audi took the top six positions, Wittmann finished seventh.
Wittmann, speaking before he was excluded, said, “I had a very good start, whereas Edo didn’t. His wheels were spinning. I had all the momentum. I went over to his side of the track. I think he wanted to block Eki (Mattias Ekstrom, ed). first and he pushed me over onto the grass - although I was already alongside him. There was contact, and I had to drive across the grass. There was contact again when I came back. In my opinion, it was caused by Edo’s mistake at the start. And obviously I won't just back down.”
The season finale will be run at Hockenheim on October 15 and 16.—Brian S. Morgan
