M4 DTM racers Marco Wittmann (Team RMG) and Bruno Spengler (Team MTEK) finished second and third in the Saturday DTM sprint at Moscow Raceway, and Spengler finished second in the one-hour-plus-one-lap race on Sunday.
Wittmann, the defending DTM drivers’ champion, started from the pole on Saturday. He led until near the end, but Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein, who had been on Wittmann’s tail much of the way, overtook him with four minutes remaining and held on for the win. As a result Wehrlein briefly assumed the championship lead ahead of Audi’s Mattias Ekstrom, who made a questionable move at mid-race while he was trying to get by fourth place BMW Team MTEK racer Timo Glock. Both cars exited the race, and Ekstrom was penalized three grid positions for Sunday. Spengler passed Audi’s Jamie Green in the last corner to make the podium, and Team RBM’s Tom Blomqvist finished eighth.
Spengler started on the front row on Sunday next to Audi racer Mike Rockenfeller. Spengler chased Rockenfeller throughout the race, falling back a few seconds when he got stuck behind Mercedes rookie racer Lucas Auer after pit stops. Maxime Martin of BMW Team RMG ran third until near the end, but fell to fourth when Ekstrom got by to finish third and regain the championship lead. Wittmann scored points for BMW with a seventh place finish.
Spengler said “After my third place yesterday, that was a fantastic result. Thank you very much to my team. The team was able to make even more significant improvements to the car, which allowed me to clock consistent lap times today. I am happy to have scored a lot of points in Russia, thanks to my two podium finishes. Unfortunately I was held up by Lucas Auer in the middle of the race – as were a few other drivers. Fortunately I was able to overtake him and then hang on to second place.”
With six race weekends down and three to go DTM competition resumes at Oschershleben on September 11-13.—Brian S. Morgan
