DTM-C2: Wittmann opens his counter, Duval on the podium at Zandvoort

Marco Wittmann (BMW) emerged victorious in the second confrontation at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, ahead of the Audi RS 5 of Mike Rockenfeller and Loïc duval. Wittmann built part of his success during the starting procedure thanks to a fantastic start against pole sitter Augusto Farfus (BMW).

After an error by Tom Blomqvist (BMW), who made a mistake in the formation lap, the BMW clan lost another asset in its game in the first moments of the race, since Maxime Martin stalled on the grid when the lights went out. lights, but fortunately no one will hit the Belgian driver.

Braking for the Tarzan corner, Marco Wittmann passed Augusto Farfus while Jamie Green (Audi) retained 3rd position, but the Briton lost several places on the first lap after going off-road. Enough to offer the possibility to Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) to gain positions in the hierarchy, also benefiting from the stop of Farfus at the end of the initial loop.

The Brazilian is imitated by Bruno Spengler (BMW), Paul di Resta (Mercedes) and Lucas Auer (Mercedes). One lap later, Robert Wickens (Mercedes), Timo Glock (BMW) and Jamie Green (Audi) pitted, while the leaders led by Marco Wittmann continued their effort.

The first racing incident occurred between Robert Wickens and Jamie Green, the latter spinning and conceding several places. Audi then saw René Rast, championship leader before showing up in the Netherlands, being forced to retire after his suspension broke following contact with the Mercedes of Maro Engel.

Ekström can thank Müller

We had to wait until the end of the 12th lap to see the leader Marco Wittmann stop at his pit, followed immediately by Mike Rockenfeller. The two men are virtually at the head of the race behind Loïc Duval (Audi) and Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes) who extend their first stint as much as possible.

The Frenchman pushed back the deadline until a quarter of an hour from the end, not without having allowed Rockenfeller to get as close as possible to Wittmann. But never the former champion DTM 2013 will not be able to overtake the BMW driver, who wins for the first time this season ahead of Rockenfeller and Duval. Wittmann took the opportunity to return to the title race, seven points behind Ekström.

Loïc Duval benefited from the problems at the end of the race from Mattias Ekström (Audi) to start again in front of the Swede who managed to finish fourth despite a problem with a tire. The EKS RX driver in World RX was well helped by Nico Müller (Audi), who played the role of buffer between the new leader of the general classification and the rest of the pack led by Gary Paffett (Mercedes), Maxime Martin, Timo Glock (BMW), Augusto Farfus and Jamie Green.

Race 2 ranking

Discover the report of the Zandvoort weekend in DTM, in issue 2128 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.