In defence of Mattias Ekström, his dad and Audi

Two weeks ago, the DTM should have been celebrating its highlight race of the season after the Norisring.

Whilst all five races so far have been good this season, very good in fact, Mattias Ekström’s victory around the streets of Nuremberg was particularly of note, as it was Audi’s first victory around its home circuit since 2002, and the Swede’s first since September 2011.

Except come the evening of July 14th 2013, the race win was no more, after Ekström and the race winning Abt Sportsline team, were found to have breached sporting regulation 44.1 by the stewards and were, around four hours after the chequered flag had fallen, excluded from the result.

In a flash, everything that counted that weekend for Ekström and Audi had gone. Their driver’s long overdue victory, his charge from 10th to first, and the team’s impressive pace had counted for nothing in the end.

To worsen what had been a perfect day for Ingolstadt, the Swede was also fined €1,000 for failing to re-attach the steering wheel to his RS 5 and as a result of the disqualification, Robert Wickens inherited his first DTM victory and Mercedes extended its impressive run of 10 victories in 10 years in Audi’s backyard.

Now, I understand that rules are rules, and for the sake of sportsmanship and reputations, they must be adhered to, but the harshness of Ekström’s disqualification seems ludicrous when what happened is read, re-read, and read again.

Article 44.1 stipulates that the driver may not have anything on them in parc fermé.  Unfortunately for Ekström, he was found to have in his an empty waterbottle in his race suit, put there by his dad, Bengt.

Now, whilst I’m not the most seasoned journalist of the DTM circuit, I do know that Mattias is a good bloke and the same can be said for the rest of the guys and girls at Audi Sport. Therefore, when the senior Ekström put the bottle in his son’s pocket, it HAD to be an honest mistake born of good intentions to cool his son down; the post-race pictures prove how hot it was, as the double DTM champion was about as red as the bull on his car.

Cheating – a suggestion which lit up Twitter and forums in the aftermath – is not something that happens in Ingolstadt. With multiple groundbreaking motorsport victories, why would it? Why would they need to?

So when the news broke that Audi was contesting the decision and the hearing for the appeal was scheduled for July 30th, it was from my perspective,good news for the DTM; whilst Wickens has impressed deeply so far in 2013 and will certainly win again, July 14 was Ekström’s and Audi’s day around the streets of Nuremberg.

As I was writing this, the news broke that Audi’s appeal was thrown out by the DMSB, but in the ruling, the panel decided that they had not gained any advantage; tell me if I’m wrong, but if no advantage was gained, then what was the point of all of this? After all, Ekström’s car was seven kilograms above the required base weight, so the added water would not have made any difference…

In addition to damaging the DTM’s and Audi’s credibility (on a short-term basis at least), the ruling body decided that Wickens will be stripped of his win, which means that Norisring 2013 is the race that nobody won and the whole scene leaves somewhat of a sour taste in the mouth.

One driver disqualified, another stripped of his win and a two week wait to find out who didn’t eventually win the race. It’s hardly good for the profile of the sport, is it?