Miguel Molina takes commanding victory at the Lausitzring
Audi Sport Team Abt driver Miguel Molina scored his second career win in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in the race held today at the Lausitzring, host of the third round of the 2016 season. Molina, who started from pole position, overtook team-mate Jamie Green in the early stages of the race and kept the position until the chequered flag.
The heat became one of the key factors today, as temperatures rose to 30 degrees Celsius at the start.
As the lights went out, Audi Team Rosberg driver Jamie Green, who was second on the grid, came side by side with Miguel Molina, who defended on the outside. The Spaniard kept the lead until two corners later, when Green moved through on the inside to take the lead.
The Briton completed lap one with a one-second lead over Molina, which started to shrink from then on. The Briton managed to stay ahead, but Robert Wickens and Marco Wittmann started to close on the Audi duo.
Mercedes AMG’s Esteban Ocon and BMW’s Martin Tomczyk collided in the mixed zone, with the German driver suffering damage in his suspension and being forced to retire. The Frenchman was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident.
On lap seven, Molina managed to get alongside Green and overtake at Turn 1 to take the lead. Soon, the Spaniard opened a 0.9-second lead over his team-mate, who also pulled away from Robert Wickens.
Jamie Green couldn’t relax for long, as soon Robert Wickens started to close the gap. By mid-race, the Canadian was within DRS distance from the Briton, as Marco Wittmann and Lucas Auer were also reaching the Mercedes.
Further behind in the pack, Audi’s Edoardo Mortara, who had started from the 14th spot on the grid, was recovering positions, with the Italian getting into the points after ten laps.
Mercedes AMG’s Lucas Auer continued to confirm his good pace this weekend, starting to close the gap to Marco Wittmann and being clearly faster than the BMW. As Wittmann defended his position, Mercedes AMG’s Christian Vietoris and Audi’s Mattias Ekström caught up with the pair.
However, Auer out-braked himself in the mixed part of the circuit, with Vietoris going through. Soon, Ekström would also pass the Austrian.
Robert Wickens started his attack on Jamie Green in the last ten minutes of the race, but the Audi driver had enough speed to defend from the DRS activations on the Canadian’s side. Similarly, Chris Vietoris also put Marco Wittmann under pressure for fourth position, with no success for the Mercedes driver.
At the chequered flag, Miguel Molina took the victory, leading a 1-2 result for Audi with Jamie Green second. Robert Wickens completed the podium for Mercedes AMG.
Marco Wittmann was, in fourth position, the best man for BMW Motorsport, with Christian Vietoris right under his rear wing. Mattias Ekström was sixth, with Lucas Auer in seventh, followed by Audi’s Edoardo Mortara. BMW Team RBM driver Maxime Martin was ninth, continuing to be the only man to have scored points at every race this year so far. Audi’s Nico Müller took the final point position in tenth.
The DTM will be back on track tomorrow at 9:00 for the third free practice session.
