Photo: DTM Media

Preview: the battle heats up at the DTM season’s mid-point in Moscow

The Moscow Raceway holds the fifth round of the 2017 DTM season this weekend, with Audi Sport driver Mattias Ekström leading the standings with five drivers from the three manufacturers separated by just a handful of points, and all capable of challenging for the lead.

The DTM will venture outside of Germany for the second time this year, with the halfway point hit after Saturday’s race. The 3.9km track, located a hundred kilometres northwest of the Russian capital, welcomes the series for the fifth consecutive year, with two victories from each manufacturer having occured in the six DTM races so far.

With an average speed of 160km/h, the Moscow Raceway is one of the slowest circuits on the calendar, featuring two long straights and a mixed middle section. Hankook doesn’t expect the Russian track to pose any more of a difficult challenge than any others so far this season for the new-for-2017 tyres.

Ekström leads the standings on 89 points, followed by Mercedes AMG’s Lucas Auer, two points adrift. BMW’s Maxime Martin rose up to third position after a strong weekend at the Norisring, 11 points behind the leader, with Audi drivers Jamie Green and René Rast a further three and six points off the Belgian.

Doubt is cast, however, on Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller’s participation in the event, after the heavy accident the German suffered at the Norisring when Mercedes’ Gary Paffett crashed into him. Rockenfeller suffered a broken foot which, in normal circumstances, would see him sitting out the Russian round of the season. The 2013 champion will, however, try to participate wearing a special orthopaedic shoe and, should he be unable to compete, young Dutchman Nyck de Vries has been chosen as his potential stand-in by Audi Sport.

Audi leads the manufacturers’ standings on 326 points, 46 ahead of Mercedes AMG and 78 ahead of BMW. After the results from Race 2 at the Norisring, the RS 5 DTMs have lost 5kg in the performance weight calculations, resulting in a new base weight of 1,117.5kg, the lightest on the grid, whilst the M4 DTMs and the C63 DTMs gained 5kg each, now running on 1,122.5 and 1,127.5kg respectively.

Timetable

Friday 21st July
17:00 – Free Practice 1

Saturday 22nd July
10:50 – Free Practice 2
13:10 – Qualifying for Race 1
15:43 – Race 1 (55 minutes plus one lap)

Sunday 23rd July
10:40 – Free Practice 3
12:30 – Qualifying for Race 2
15:48 – Race 2 (55 minutes plus one lap)

All times Moscow time (MSK)