A great day for Audi at Moscow Raceway: Mattias Ekström, by taking third place, recaptured the lead of the drivers’ standings and Mike Rockenfeller gave the brand its seventh victory of the season.
26,000 spectators saw an impressive performance by the Audi squad. Despite driving one of the heaviest cars in the field Mike Rockenfeller was unbeatable on Sunday. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline celebrated Mattias Ekström’s third place like a victory. His Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM had to be prepared again from scratch overnight following the accident in race one on Saturday. In addition, the Swede received a three-place grid penalty by the stewards of the meeting due to the collision.
This did not keep the Swede from battling his way forward from position five on the grid to third place and thus a podium finish. Ten minutes before the end of the race, following a lap-long duel, he overtook Maxime Martin’s BMW. “I learned to be a little more patient yesterday and that paid off today,” Ekström said after his recovery with which the Audi driver reclaimed the lead of the drivers’ standings he had lost on Saturday. “I have to thank my mechanics who gave me a perfect car again overnight and, to top it off, delivered the quickest pit stop as well. A class act!”
Edoardo Mortara, in position eight, defended his third place in the DTM drivers’ standings. In the early stage, in a thrilling duel with Saturday’s winner Pascal Wehrlein, the Italian prevailed. Miguel Molina and Adrien Tambay took positions 14 and 16.
