DTM – Wittmann takes first success at Hockenheim

Adrien Tambay caused a sensation by winning the first pole of his career in DTM for the first race of the season at Hockenheim. The Audi driver retained his pole advantage when the lights went out but was overtaken on the second lap by the BMW of Marco Wittmann. The local driver kept the lead until the finish to score his first success in the discipline. The Frenchman finally reached the last step of the podium after Mattias Ekström carried out a superb strategy by starting on standard tires.

The Swede was not the only one to gain places in the pits since the reigning champion Mike Rockenfeller finished just off the podium in front of the BMW of Timo Glock. Edoardo Mortara also followed this strategy by starting from sixth place on the grid following the disqualification of Miguel Molina, but the Italian retired following a puncture. Bruno Spengler thus ranks sixth ahead of the M4 DTMs of Martin Tomczyk and Augusto Farfus. Timo Scheider and Joey Hand complete the top ten.

Mercedes suffered throughout the weekend at Hockenheim and the final result is cruel for the star manufacturer who does not place any AMG C Coupé in the points, Pascal Wehrlein failing in 11th position. For his return to the discipline after his title in 2010, Paul di Resta only took 14th place. As for rookie Vitaly Petrov, he finished his first DTM event in 17th position.

Discover the report of the DTM at Hockneheim produced by our special correspondent in issue 1959 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.