DTM – C1: Green offers victory to Ekström

Untouchable in free practice and qualifying, Jamie Green (Audi / Team Rosberg) seemed well on his way to winning his third victory this season. But that was without taking into account the team – or rather manufacturer – instructions which make rain or shine in DTM. With a handful of laps to go, the Briton offered first place to Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport team Abt Sportsline), who scored his first success in 2017.

Leader of the championship at the start of this race with around ten points ahead of Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) and René Rast (Audi / Team Rosberg), the Swede carried out an excellent operation. If the Austrian limited the damage as best as possible by finishing eighth, the race turned into a disaster for his German rival, involved in a collision with the Belgian Maxime Martin (BMW Team RBM) and only 14th at the finish. Rast certainly abandoned his last title hopes there. It is indeed a safe bet that with three races remaining – including tomorrow's – Audi is now betting everything on its double champion Mattias Ekström, whose last victory dates back to 2007.

Today's podium is therefore completed by Jamie Green and Nico Müller (Audi Sport team Abt Sportsline), who offer the firm with the rings a hat-trick. The rest of the pack is far away since Robert Wickens (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) and Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG), fourth and fifth, are pushed back more than twenty seconds.

Note the comeback of Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport), 18th at the end of the first lap but ninth at the finish ahead of Timo Glock (BMW Team RMG). Belgian Maxime Martin finished in sixth place, just ahead of Mike Rockenfeller (Audi / Team Phoenix).

Seventeenth on the grid, Loïc duval (Audi / Team Phoenix), which postponed its passage through the pit lane as much as possible, took the checkered flag in fourteenth position.

With three races remaining in the 2017 campaign, Ekström has a 28-point lead over Green, 31 over Auer, 37 over Wittmann and 38 over Rast.