Timo Glock wins thriller in the Alps

Timo Glock scored his first win of the year in Race 2 held at the Red Bull Ring, host of the second round of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season. For the BMW Motorsport driver, it was also his first win with new squad Team RMG.

Temperatures kept rising leading up to the start, with teams and drivers concerned as to how the grip would be affected.

At the start, Audi’s Jamie Green made the most of his pole position to take the lead, with BMW’s Timo Glock overtaking team-mate António Félix Da Costa for second place, with the Portuguese already defending from the attacks from Edoardo Mortara.

The DRS was activated on lap 2, creating the perfect opportunity for Timo Glock to line up Jamie Green and execute an overtaking manoeuvre at Remus.

Further back in the field, Mercedes’ Robert Wickens tried to overtake Audi’s Nico Müller, tagging the Swiss driver from Team Abt and sending him across the gravel trap and against the barriers. The safety car was deployed for three laps, and Wickens was given a drive-through penalty as a result.

Glock started to build an advantage over Jamie Green, whilst Da Costa attacked the Team Rosberg driver. The Portuguese driver was on the wrong foot after one of his attempts, and was overtaken by the following pair of Edoardo Mortara and Augusto Farfus. Da Costa exercised some caution to not collide with the Brazilian, and was then overtaken by fellow BMW driver Maxime Martin.

The pit stop window was opened, with drivers heading in to complete their obligatory tyre change. Mattias Ekström, however, was on a different strategy and making good lap times, and delayed the stop as much as he could.

Edoardo Mortara and António Félix Da Costa battled for fourth place in the race, with the Italian having more straight-line speed than the Portuguese, who was extracting the maximum from his DRS use. Da Costa managed to get ahead, only to be tagged by Mortara at Würth Kurve, with both cars going off on the gravel trap. Da Costa managed to rejoin, but further at the back of the pack. The incident will be investigated by the stewards after the race.

Mattias Ekström came in for his pit stop at the last possible moment, emerging in third place of the race and proving his strategy. Timo Glock had a four-second lead over Jamie Green, and the Swede soon caught up with his fellow Audi driver, who didn’t pose any resistance to being overtaken, conscious that Ekström was faster.

The last laps of the race were action-packed for Gary Paffett, the leading driver of the struggling Mercedes contingent, who, from 12th position, was faster than the cars ahead of him. The Briton soon caught and overtook Audi’s Adrien Tambay, starting a battle with Timo Scheider for the last points-scoring position. Paffett tried to overtake several times, but the German driver from Team Phoenix defended.

On the last lap, Paffett went side-by-side with Scheider after Remus, with the Audi driver edging the Briton out onto the grass, causing Paffett to lose two positions. The incident was also investigated by the stewards, resulting in a warning for Timo Scheider.

At the chequered flag, Timo Glock took the win, with a recovering Mattias Ekström in second place and Jamie Green completing the podium.

BMW Motorsport completed a strong result taking the next four positions with Augusto Farfus, Maxime Martin, Tom Blomqvist and Marco Wittmann. Mike Rockenfeller was eighth for Audi, with BMW’s Bruno Spengler in ninth. Timo Scheider took the last remaining points in tenth.

Just as the qualifying session before, the race proved disastrous for Mercedes AMG, with Daniel Juncadella the best-placed man for the Stuttgart manufacturer in 12th position.

The next DTM race is at the Lausitzring, from the 3rd to the 5th of June.