Photo: DTM Media

DTM Moscow preview: from Russia with love

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This weekend the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is back in action for the sixth round of the 2015 season. The Moscow Raceway welcomes the series for the third and last event of the European round, with Audi Sport leading the standings with a big advantage.

The 3.931-kilometre track is located near the capital of Russia, and will host the DTM for the third time. Last year, Audi’s Miguel Molina set the record of the track, with a time of 1:28.605.

The dust from Spielberg hasn’t settled yet. On the last lap of the second race, Audi’s Timo Scheider pushed out of the track Mercedes drivers Robert Wickens and Pascal Wehrlein, after receiving an order by radio from a senior team member. The German was excluded from the results, but the DMSB (Germany’s motorsport authority) is still to hear and debate the issue, thus rendering Spielberg’s results and the standings provisional.

This circumstance doesn’t take away the fact that Audi has been the strongest team so far this season, with the RS 5 DTM being consistently fast and scoring points at every round. Mattias Ekström, leader of the Drivers’ table will have the heaviest car on track with 1,137.5 kilos, 30 more than the BMWs. Audi heads to Moscow with a 61-point margin over Mercedes.

Mercedes AMG is second in the Manufacturers’ standings, having enjoyed a particularly good weekend in Norisring, but generally tailing their Ingolstadt rivals. Pascal Wehrlein is the best placed man for the three-point star brand in the Drivers’ championship, in third place, 17 points behind Ekström.

BMW Motorsport had a glimpse of hope in Zandvoort with a domineering result, but has lacked pace and resolution throughout the season. The Bavarian manufacturer tested for two days at Spielberg after the races that marked the halfway point in the season, and hopes to go back on a more successful track this weekend. Still, Bruno Spengler, in ninth position, is the best placed driver in the standings, with the contingent of M4 DTMs only having scored a total of 248 points, 151 less than Audi.

Timetable

Moscow is in the time zone one hour ahead of the Central European Summer Time (GMT + 3). The agenda for this weekend is as follows (all times are CEST):

Friday 28th of August

11:00 – 10:35: Roll out.
15:00 – 14:50: Free Practice 1

Saturday 29th of August

9:40 – 9:30: Free Practice 2.
12:00 – 12:20: Qualifying for Race 1.
15:30: Race 1 (40 minutes plus one lap).

Sunday 30th of August

10:10 – 10:25: Warm Up.
12:25 – 12:45: Qualifying for Race 2.
15:10: Race 2 (60 minutes plus one lap).