Bruno Spengler heads BMW 1-2-3 at Spielberg

Reigning DTM champion Bruno Spengler led home a BMW 1-2-3 ahead of rookie stablemates Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock at Spielberg.

The result is BMW’s first victory at the track since it returned to the series in 2012, as well as Spengler’s first DTM win around the circuit and his first of the season. Furthermore, the positions of Wittmann and Glock mark the first podium positions for the new for 2013 MTEK BMW team.

Spengler now moves into the lead of the drivers’ championship with 53 points; 12 ahead of Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller who arrived in Austria as the series leader.

Rockenfeller finished fourth, despite starting 13th following a five-place grid penalty after qualifying. The Phoenix team once again finished the best of the Ingolstadt manufacturers’ outfits after it pitted Rockenfeller early on the fourth lap and optimised a standard-option-standard tyre strategy.

Timo Glock pitted on the same lap as Rockenfeller and used a similar strategy and at one point, appeared to be an outside bet for victory. However, a problem fitting a tyre during his second stop on lap 33 put pay to the ex-Formula 1 driver’s hopes of a win.

Abt Sportsline’s Mattias Ekström put in a spirited drive from 15th to finish fifth after making the best of a standard-option-standard tyre choice, which, like Rockenfeller, underlined the RS5’s pace on the normal compound. The Swede swept around the outside of BMW’s Augusto Farfus on lap 44 of 47 to take the position with bits of bodywork flying from his car as he did so.

Christian Vietoris was the best placed of the Mercedes’ in seventh, with stablemates Gary Paffett and Pascal Wehrlein finishing ninth and 10th.

Despite running in the top-four earlier in the race, the Briton incurred his third penalty in as many races, following contact with Martin Tomczyk after the Mercedes appeared to shove the BMW wide at Turn 3 for eighth place in the early stages. As a result, Paffett was given a two-second pitstop penalty from the stewards.

However, this wasn’t Tomczyk’s only contact in the race. Once again, the BMW made contact with Roberto Merhi’s Mercedes a handful of laps later which saw the Spaniard given a 10-second pitstop penalty for his actions.

This is not the first time the pair have come together during the season as at Brands Hatch, the 2011 DTM champion was spun out of the race by the HWA Mercedes driver.

Tomczyk later retired on lap 30 after describing his car as ‘undriveable’ as a result of the incident. He was not the only retirement of the race as BMW stablemate Joey Hand parked his car after the RBM team failed to properly attach a wheel to the M3 after his first pitstop.

Edoardo Mortara also had a difficult race and finished 15th despite starting third. The Italian dropped down the order after making contact with Wittmann after the BMW driver’s final stop. This forced the Audi driver to pit on the following lap, which effectively ruined any chance of scoring points.