Mortara takes first Audi 2012 win after heated battle

Edoardo Mortara took his first ever DTM win and Audi’s first win of 2012 at Red Bull Ring Spielberg today after a heated three-car battle with BMW’s Martin Tomczyk and Mercedes’ Gary Paffett.

The Italian started from pole but had a tough time defending the lead towards the end of the race. Paffett got out right next to Mortara after the final pitstop, with the two going side-by-side. Mortara defended his line hard, resulting in a short trip over the grass at high speed for Paffett who was upset, calling the maneuver unfair and that Mortara had changed line too many times via the team radio.

But Mortara was able to stay ahead and Paffett instead lost a position to Tomczyk as the BMW came out from his final pitstop. Tomczyk had a good run on Mortara, putting his nose down the inside of Mortara in one corner, resulting in contact and a slide from Mortara.

After the intense couple of laps with fighting, Mortara was able to pull away, with Tomczyk settling down in second and Paffett dropping back in third.

Mattias Ekström closed in on Paffett as the race neared the end, but the Swede was never able to get close enough for an attack, despite trying very hard, putting his Audi A5 on the grass at a couple of occasions.

Jamie Green finished fifth ahead of Timo Scheider in sixth. The Audi driver pulled off a storming drive from the back of the field after a gravel visit earlier in the race due to contact with Augusto Farfus Jr.

Filipe Albuquerque had a big fight with Joey Hand, resulting in Scheider getting past. The Audi driver managed to stay ahead of Hand, finishing eighth, with Hand ninth and Farfus tenth.

Championship top runner Bruno Spengler retired after a while in to the race due to suspension damage sustained in the first lap action.