Mortara Goes From Pole to Finish in Austria with Lots of Pressure

The DTM race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria got off to an exciting start when Dirk Werner who started 9th pushed off Adrien Tambay who started 15th in the first corner. This collected Christian Vietoris who started 14th and Andy Priaulx in 18th. All of the drivers involved were knocked out of the race.

After one lap the positions were Edoardo Mortara, Gary Paffett, Martin Tomczyk, Mattias Ekström, Jamie Green, Filipe Albuquerque, Joey Hand and Bruno Spengler. By lap 7, Mortara had extended his lead to 1.2 seconds. On lap 8, Timo Scheider went off into the gravel while fighting with Augusto Farfus.

Through lap 10, the top drivers remained the same except for Albuquerque passing Spengler for 7^th. On lap 12, Albuquerque was the first driver to head into the pits and over the next several laps the rest of the drivers came in. Mortara and Ekström were among the last drivers to pit on lap 21. After pitting, the leaders were still Mortara, Paffett and Tomczyk all within 1.7 seconds on one another. On lap 25, the top seven drivers remained exactly the same as on lap 12.

Drivers began coming in for their second pit stops around lap 26, and Albuquerque was the first again. Mortara came in on lap 29 earlier than during the last pits and was able to come in just ahead of Paffett.

After the second round of pit stops, the top drivers had finally shaken up a little. Mortara continued to lead, but Tomczyk was in second and Paffett was in third.

The race was clearly coming to an end because the drivers really started fighting. Tomcyzk gave Mortara a little bump on lap 31, but Mortara remained 0.40 seconds ahead of him at the end of the lap. At the same time, Ekström was challenging Paffett for third. He was within 0.6 seconds of Paffett by lap 35. Also on lap 35, Scheider became the last driver to pit and completed the mandatory pit stops. The next 12 laps will be a sprint to the finish. At that point the leaders were Mortara, Tomczyk, Paffett, Ekström, Green, Scheider, Hand and Albuquerque.

Mike Rockenfellar took advantage of Hand and Albuquerque fighting for 7^th and passed Albuquerque on lap 38. Then on lap 45, Rockenfellar and Albuquerque both passed Hand.

In the end Mortara won the race, but it was close. At times, he, Paffett and Ekström were entering corners three-wide. Mortara might have won from pole, but he earned it today in Austria. 

All of the drivers from Spengler in 16th and below did not finish the race. 

Gary Paffett still has a commanding lead in the drivers' championship with 83 points; while Ekström is in second with 47 points, and Green is in third with 44 points. 

The Mercedes HWA Team is is leading the team's championship with 103 points; Abt Sportline has 63 points, and Mercedes AMG has 51 points.

MercedesMercedes-Benz DTM ChallengerGermany, 2011 > present2 photos
leads the manufacturers' championship with 158 points. AudiAudi A5 DTMGermany, 2012 > present12 photos
has 141 points, and BMWBMW M3 DTMGermany, 2012 > present4 photos
1 video
has 105 points.