Following the 1-2-3-4-5-6 success on Saturday, Audi celebrated a one-two result with Mattias Ekström and Adrien Tambay at the Hungaroring in race two on Sunday. However, the joy within the Audi squad was marred by the fact that the Audi driver with the best points score went home without points following a starting accident.
In a thrilling qualifying session, Edoardo Mortara in the, like the day before, had again secured pole position. His teammate Mattias Ekström relegated leader of the standings Marco Wittmann in the BMW to the second row by a thousandth of a second. He was trailed by two other Audi drivers – Jamie Green and Miguel Molina – a solid, albeit dicey starting base for Sunday’s race.
While Mattias Ekström managed a perfect start, the three drivers with the best points score overall collided with each other even before turn one. Marco Wittmann was fortunate and able to finish the race in fourth place. Jamie Green on the other hand retired with a damaged left front suspension and now no longer has any title chances. Edoardo Mortara caught a puncture in the controversial collision and, in position 21, remained without points as well. The Audi driver will now enter the finale with a deficit of 26 points.
“I didn’t have a good start. Subsequently, I was sandwiched between Wittmann and Green. One of the rims broke in the process and I had to take a few more hits on lap one,” said Mortara. “That’s very disappointing because we could have won again today.”
The ABT guys Miguel Molina and Nico Müller became victims of the starting tussle as well. Mattias Ekström and Adrien Tambay on the other hand benefited in a major way. “I had a good start and a clean turn one,” Mattias Ekström said following the 22nd victory in his DTM career and first success this season. “Afterwards, I was a little surprised that Edo was losing speed. I didn’t know he had a puncture. He let me pass in turn three. After that, it was a boring race for me in a fantastic car. It was my goal to end my DTM season with a good result – that it even turned out to be a victory is fantastic.”
