Mattias Ekström wins under the rain at Hockenheim
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Mattias Ekström obtained a lights-to-flag victory in Hockenheim today, under tricky conditions. The Swede perfected the weekend for Ingolstadt manufacturer, who finishes the first round of the year with two poles and two victories.
The weather didn’t play its card as it was initially expected, with the drivers starting on slicks on a dry track.
At the green light, Ekström overtook his team mate Mike Rockenfeller to take the lead. At Turn 4, Wittmann went on the outside to pass the Audi and climb to second place, with Audi’s Edoardo Mortara following suit to be in third.
Marco Wittmann got pass Ekström, taking the lead. After a couple of laps of impasse, the Swede started attacking the reigning champion again, regaining the lead a few laps after. Ekström opened a gap over his rivals, as Mortar got closer to Wittmann.
There were several scraps in the initial laps, with the drivers positioning themselves before the rain started. Mortara took second from Wittmann on lap six.
A few moments later, it started to rain slightly, although enough for the drivers to set the wipers on.
Marco Wittmann went wide at Turn 4, so Martin Tomczyk went pass him. The reigning champion and Edoardo Mortara came in for wet tyres, followed by Gary Paffett and Augusto Farfus. One lap later, Ekström would have his tyre change, followed by the majority of drivers.
BMW Team RBM let Maxime Martin go too early blocking another driver in the pitlane. The Belgian driver would get a drive through penalty as a result.
From then on, Mercedes’ Gary Paffett, who had started the race from the 23rd spot of the grid, started a charge given that, as he had told Touring Car Times yesterday, he was betting on a wet setup. The Briton became the fastest man on track, being 12th after coming out of the pits.
Edo Mortara, who was in the lead, came under attack from Mattias Ekström. The Italian from Audi didn’t put up a fight and allowed the Swede, much faster, to go through and take the lead.
Paffett continued moving up and, with half race still to be run, became the top classified Mercedes as he overtook Robert Wickens for seventh place.
Further behind, Audi’s Nico Müller was braking late, tangling with Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta and causing both to spin. The managed to recover, but lost several positions.
Gary Paffett was lapping nearly a second faster than his competitors. The Art Grand Prix man overtook Mike Rockenfeller and, a lap later, Marco Wittmann to become fourth. He then charged to catch Martin Tomczyk. The BMW Team Schnitzer man was reasonably fast, but not enough to hold off Paffett. The Briton took third place with eight minutes left on the clock and didn’t give up on Edoardo Mortara, who was six seconds ahead.
In the closing stages Robert Wickens had a great fight with Bruno Spengler for seventh place, that the Mercedes man was able to win with just two laps to the end of the race.
At the chequered flag, Mattias Ekström took the victory with 7.3 seconds over team mate at Audi Edoardo Mortara. Gary Paffett was third after a great charge.
Fourth was Martin Tomczyk, in one of his most solid performances in several races. Marco Wittmann was fifth, followed by Mike Rockenfeller. Mercedes’ boys Robert Wickens and Pascal Wehrlein were next, with BMW’s Bruno Spengler and Timo Glock closing the points’ positions.
