Edoardo Mortara wins at Hockenheim, Marco Wittmann takes the title

Audi Sport’s Edoardo Mortara drove a faultless race at Hockenheim to take his fifth win of the season, but with his main rival Marco Wittmann finishing fourth, the BMW driver scored enough points to secure the 2016 drivers’ title.

At the start of the race, BMW driver António Félix Da Costa made his pole position count to take the lead ahead of Mercedes’ Gary Paffett. Marco Wittmann was able to overtake his fellow BMW drivers Tom Blomqvist and Maxime Martin to be up to third by Turn 2, with Edoardo Mortara fighting his way around the outside line to recover sixth after a slow start at Turn 6, and made his way ahead of the BMW pair over the first few laps.

Meanwhile Gary Paffett battled it out with Da Costa for the lead with Wittmann closing on both of them. At the end of the second lap, the top four were separated by just two seconds.

At the Mercedes Kurve on lap four, Paffett made contact with Da Costa, with the Portuguese driver spinning out and falling to 22nd place. The incident was investigated by the stewards, with Paffett quickly handed a drive-through penalty, which promoted the title protagonists Wittmann and Mortara up to first and second.

Mortara took the lead from Wittmann of lap six after getting down the inside at Turn 7. The Italian started to clock fastest lap after fastest lap, and managed to get out of the one-second DRS distance by lap 12.

The top positions remained stable, but soon fourth place Christian Vietoris closed the gap to Tom Blomqvist, with the Mercedes driver seeking to finish the season on the podium. The Team Mücke driver would come into the pits for his compulsory pit stop on lap 13, as soon as the window was opened.

António Félix Da Costa and Gary Paffett came together on the track again whilst battling for 17th place, colliding at Mercedes Kurve. The Portuguese driver received a warning for the move. Moments later, Timo Scheider tagged Augusto Farfus into a spin at the same point, with the Audi driver receiving a drive-through penalty for the move.

Da Costa was again under the spotlight when, on lap 23, he lost a wheel after his pit stop. The Portuguese had to retire from the race, and was also reported to the stewards for an unsafe release.

On lap 24, both Mortara and Wittmann completed their pit stops, with the Italian coming back out in the lead, but the German was now down to sixth place behind Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta. The Scot defended his position, with the BMW driver unable to overtake.

After the round of pit stops was completed, Mortara was firmly in the lead of the race, with Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris and Paul Di Resta in second and third, while Wittmann was in fourth position, fighting for the podium.

Mortara went on to take his fifth win of the season, but with Wittmann fourth, the BMW driver wins the 2016 drivers’ championship by just four points.

BMW drivers Timo Glock, Maxime Martin and Tom Blomqvist followed Wittmann across the line, with Jamie Green in eighth position, ahead of Mercedes’ Robert Wickens and BMW’s Martin Tomczyk, who scored the final point in his farewell race of the series.