BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann led a BMW sweep of the top four positions at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria; Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus was second, Team MTEK’s Timo Glock was third, and Team Schnitzer’s Martin Tomczyk was fourth. The win, Wittmann’s third of the season, extended his DTM drivers’ points lead.
Tomczyk’s teammate, Bruno Spengler, finished tenth, while Joey Hand and Maxime Martin—who were given drive-through penalties for infringements under the yellow flag, along with three other drivers—finished twelfth and fourteenth. The eighth M4 DTM, driven by António Félix da Costa, retired early with a technical problem.
Strategic blunders by Mercedes and Audi helped BMW secure the top four spots. Pole sitter Robert Wickens of Mercedes, who led the first half of the race and led again for a time after his pit stop, was black flagged for ignoring a drive through penalty, and Audi’s Jamie Green, who took the lead after his pit stop, was penalized for staying out a lap too long on the option tires on which he had started the race.
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt said, “This is a historic success for us today – the first time we have occupied all of the top four positions since Hockenheim in 1992, and the best result since our return to the series. It was a sensational race from Marco Wittmann, Augusto Farfus, Timo Glock and Martin Tomczyk – one driver from each of the four teams in the BMW M4 DTM. Today we can quite literally talk about ‘Four in a Row’. A huge compliment goes to the entire team, who produced an absolutely top-class performance. The race was very intense and close at the front, particularly just after the start. After Marco fell back through the field a bit at the start, he did a great job of working his way back into the race. It then all calmed down at the front of the field towards the end of the race. Today is a fantastic day for us – and we are particularly delighted to have achieved this result against such a great backdrop and in front of so many spectators. We will celebrate today, and tomorrow we will start to focus on the next race at the Nürburgring, where the situation with the performance weight means we are bound to face a real challenge.”
The Nürburgring race will be run on August 17.—Brian S. Morgan
