Marco Wittmann wins at Nürburgring and puts his hands on the title

Marco Wittmann put in a very strong performance from pole position to win his fourth race of the year and a huge advantage in the championship. The Team RMG driver was put under pressure towards the end of the race by current champion Mike Rockenfeller, but the Audi never had the chance to attack the M4. The podium was completed by Edoardo Mortara, who now jumps to second in the championship tied on points with Audi stablemate Mattias Ekström, who had a nightmare of a race retiring after two laps.

The race started with Wittmann retaining the lead to never leave it, if not for the pit stops. A huge Audi squad chased him led by Rockenfeller and Mortara, with the German clearly the biggest threat to the leader as the race went along. Meanwhile, Audi sport were also living a nightmare in the back of the field, with Mattias Ekstrom retiring due to contact with BMW’s Timo Glock and, more significantly, with Vitaly Petrov and his Mercedes. Up in the points zone, Timo Scheider knocked out stablemate Nico Muller after a tap from Mercedes’ Robert Wickens.

More hard fights were to come as Augusto Farfus and Jamie Green clashed, the Team Rosberg driver hitting the BMW hard, so much that the Brazilian retired later in the race. The round of pit stops did not change much, as Wittmann still held a lead of at least 3 seconds for the whole race. A storming drive from Martin Tomczyk allowed the Team Schnitzer driver to pass Jamie Green with four laps to go, the Brit on prime tyres, soon imitated by Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Wickens. The Mercedes duo then swapped positions, putting the Canadian into ninth.

At the end of the race, after several tough battles all through the field, sometimes a little over the edge, there was more drama as Wittmann seemed to struggle and Mike Rockenfeller slowly made up for the gap, but not quite enough to attack the BMW.

Wittmann took his fourth win of the season, putting him on 120 points with three races to go. The German came home ahead of Audi duo Rockenfeller-Mortara, the Team Abt RS5 never able to chase his stable mate and actually busier defending from a reborn Paul Di Resta, the leading Mercedes in fourth. Daniel Juncadella and Christian Vietoris bagged more points for Mercedes, as Maxime Martin and Martin Tomczyk took seventh and eighth respectively. Wickens and Wehrlein completed the podium.

With Wittmann’s incredible score, he now enjoys a 64-points advantage over Mattias Ekstrom and Edoardo Mortara, who are tied on points in second, with Mike Rockenfeller still in with a mathematical chance a further three points adrift. With only 75 points available, however, it looks like Wittmann has got his hands on the 2014 title.

Next up for the DTM is Lausitzring, a full month away from now. The German track might host the announcement of the new champion, as a fourth place would hand Wittmann the title.