Edoardo Mortara wins in Hungary and closes the gap to Marco Wittmann
Audi’s Edoardo Mortara led an all Audi top six with a lights-to-flag victory in Race 1 at the Hungaroring, reducing the gap to BMW’s Marco Wittmann in the championship to just 14 points.
Edoardo Mortara held the lead at the start from pole position, followed by fellow Audi drivers Jamie Green and Miguel Molina. At Turn 2, Mattias Ekström and BMW’s Martin Tomczyk spun off the track after an incident also involving BMW’s Maxime Martin, but both were able to rejoin the race at the back of the pack.
At the end of the first lap, BMW’s Marco Wittmann and Mercedes AMG’s Robert Wickens were up into seventh and tenth positions respectively, with the Canadian having gained eight places from the start.
At the front, both Mortara and Green opened up a gap ahead of Molina, but the Briton soon put pressure on the Italian.
The main battle in the race was between Mercedes AMG’s Felix Rosenqvist and Audi’s Timo Scheider for eighth position, with Marco Wittmann two seconds ahead of the pair.
Mercedes driver Paul Di Resta and BMW’s António Félix Da Costa came together at Turn 1 on lap ten, colliding several times. The Scot would retire a couple of laps later with damage. The incident was investigated by the stewards, with no action deemed necessary.
Audi Sport had a strategy to maximise their points haul, not only to protect their drivers in the championship, but also for the battle for the manufacturers’ crown. On lap 15, Nico Müller, on fresher tyres, overtook fellow Audi driver Adrien Tambay for fifth position.
The latter part of the race was fairly uneventful, with the focus on Mattias Ekström, who was on a recovery strategy after his first lap incident. The Swede collided with BMW’s Augusto Farfus on lap 23 after overtaking the Brazilian at the chicane, with both going wide and being passed by Mercedes driver Christian Vietoris.
At the chequered flag, Edoardo Mortara took his fourth win of the season, followed by fellow Audi drivers Jamie Green and Miguel Molina who completed the podium.
Mike Rockenfeller was fourth, followed by Nico Müller and Adrien Tambay, with Audi effectively dominating the race.
Marco Wittmann finished in seventh place, the only BMW in the points. Mercedes AMG’s Felix Rosenqvist was eighth, with Timo Scheider in ninth and Robert Wickens completing the top ten.
After this race, Marco Wittmann still leads the standings with 176 points, with Edoardo Mortara now having reduced the gap to just 14 points. Jamie Green is third, 49 points adrift, with Robert Wickens now 55 points behind the Team RMG driver.
The DTM resumes tomorrow with another qualifying session and 60-minute feature race, with the third free practice session kicking things off at 10:45 CET.
