DTM back on track at Red Bull Ring

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters enters the second half of the 2014 season at Spielberg, Austria, this weekend. The Red Bull Ring will host the sixth round of the championship, with BMW driver Marco Wittmann leading the standings by some 20 points over Audi’s Mattias Ekström. Behind them is another BMW-Audi pair, with 2012 DTM Champion Bruno Spengler sharing third with Edoardo Mortara on 41 points, 29 shy of the leader.

Last year BMW Motorsport monopolised the podium, with Spengler winning ahead of the current championship leader, and Timo Glock rounding up the podium, the best weekend since the Bavarian manufacturer’s DTM return. Champion-to-be Mike Rockenfeller came fourth as Mercedes struggled a little more with Christian Vietoris the highest-placed C-Coupè in seventh.

More than 40,000 people are expected to witness BMW’s efforts to repeat their performance from last year, while Mercedes still tries to catch up to the opposition after a tough start of the season.

On Audi’s side, Mattias Ekström will try to finally climb on the podium after always missing it in his long DTM career. “I still have unfinished business there,” said the Swede on his hopes to win the race. Two-time champion Ekström is yet to win a race this year. “Even though I’ve already clinched three trophies this year I feel an increasingly burning desire to hold the biggest trophy and hear the Swedish anthem,” he added.

While Edoardo Mortara remembers his first ever DTM win at the Austrian track, current champion Mike Rockenfeller has all eyes on him after the “disappointing” clash with Audi stablemate Adrien Tambay last time in Moscow. “The speed and the work in the team fit in perfectly in spite of [the disappointing Russian weekend]. If we continue that in Austria, we’ve got good chances of taking home a trophy,” he said.

Championship leader Marco Wittmann is confident of extending his lead in the Austrian weekend, as he impressed last year by finishing on the podium. “I’m really looking forward to Spielberg. I achieved my best DTM result up to that point there last year, which is why I am really excited. I’m hoping for another strong result this year. Particularly after last year’s success when I finished second in qualifying and in the race, I’m optimistic about the weekend.”

However Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport’s director, highlighted a factor which could affect the outcome of the weekend:”The performance weights that we have to carry in our cars as a result of our good results to date will definitely play a role from this point on”, said the German.

All the ingredients are there for an entertaining show at the Red Bull Ring, where nice overtaking opportunities should make the race even more interesting.

Timetable

Saturday 2nd Aug
12:00 – Free Practice 1
14:10 – Free Practice 2
18:10 – Qualifying

Sunday 3rd Aug
13:33 – Race

* All times CET