The Swede (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) had to fight hard for his fourth place which caused him to improve from third to second place in the standings. At the start, Ekström had taken the lead in his Red Bull Audi A5 DTM but then dropped all the way to fifth place in the commotion of the hectic first lap. He immediately managed to overtake Mercedes driver Jamie Green again, closed the gap to Gary Paffett in the final phase but could not pass him anymore.
An impressive race and the fastest lap were driven by Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM). The two-time DTM Champion advanced from position 16 on the grid to sixth place despite having to run through the gravel trap once after being hit by Augusto Farfus. A strong performance was also shown by Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM), who maintained her mid-field position before dropping to 15th place after a drive-through penalty imposed on her for having exceeded the speed limit in the pit lane. Shorter was the race of Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM). The youngster was forced into the grass on the starting lap and had to retire.
"First of all, congratulations to Edoardo Mortara and Team Rosberg", says Hans-Jürgen Abt. "Audi did a tremendous job today in every respect. The car was perfect today. Five Audi A5 DTM cars among the top eight is a fantastic team result. With Mattias Ekström were in second place of the championship. Thats a good starting base for the other races. And there are still a few rounds on the calendar. A successful day for Audi - lets continue this way."