Photo: DTM Media

Mattias Ekström is the new championship leader after Spielberg

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The weekend at the Red Bull Ring, host of the fifth round of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season, marked the half way point the current campaign. A difficult and controversial weekend has seen Audi Sport’s position reinforced, with Mattias Ekström becoming the new man at the front of the Drivers’ standings.

Ekström had a complicated race on Saturday, but Sunday’s tricky weather conditions, with a very wet track and poor visibility, allowed him to prevail over his rivals, winning the race and making a huge step forward in the championship. Ekström is now the standings leader with 111 points, 13 more than his team-mate at Audi Sport Edoardo Mortara.

Pascal Wehrlein, who was taken out of the race at the last lap in a controversial move on Sunday, remains the top man for Mercedes AMG in third position, with a total of 94 points.

Jamie Green started the year as the strongest man on track and arrived to the Red Bull Ring as the Drivers’ table leader. The Briton from Audi Sport Team Rosberg hasn’t scored any points since the second race in Norisring, and is now fourth in the standings with 81 points, 30 away from the leader.

Bruno Spengler, who had a weekend to forget at the Red Bull Ring, remains the top man for BMW, in eighth position with a total of 52 points.

The gooix/Original Teile pair of HWA AG, composed by Pascal Wehrlein and Christian Vietoris, leads the Team’s standings with 150 points, 12 more than Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. BMW Team RMG is still the best placed squad for the Bavarian manufacturer in sixth place, with 83 points.

In the Manufacturers’ championship, Audi Sport has been able to extend their lead after a strong weekend at the Red Bull Ring. The Ingolstadt squad has a total of 399 points, 61 ahead of Mercedes AMG. BMW lies third with 248 points.

The classification could be subject to changes as the Race 2 result remain provisional, pending the DMSB investigation into Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich’s radio message to Timo Scheider. The Team Phoenix driver was excluded from the race result on Sunday evening.

Next round of the 2015 DTM season takes place at the Moscow Raceway from the 28th to the 30th of August.