» DTM Nürburgring: Ekström takes dominant win

Mattias Ekström has converted his first pole position of the season to claim his first DTM championship win in over a year, with the Swede drilling the opposition to claim a comfortable win at the Nürburgring.

The Audi driver made a great getaway at the start of the 49-lap race, and was never seriously challenged as he cruised to victory in what was a very dull race.

The win was his fifteenth DTM victory, while third place was claimed by Abt Audi team-mate Mike Rockenfeller. He was chased hard all the way by Mercedes’ Bruno Spengler, who extended his championship lead to seven points when he claimed second place after Rockenfeller slide wide at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap.

Spengler had been applying the pressure to Rockenfeller for the entire race, but was never quite close enough to launch a passing attempt on the Audi driver.

The remaining five points’ scoring places were covered by less than six seconds when the chequered flag was unfurled.

Timo Scheider gained places from his eighth-placed grid slot to claim fourth at the end of the race, closely followed by Martin Tomczyk, who improved on his seventh-placed starting position. Jamie Green finished in sixth, while Edoardo Mortara and Gary Paffett completed the points positions.

Green, Mortara and Tomczyk had all made contact as the field tried to snake its way through the circuit’s tight opening complex or corners; Tomczyk caused minor damage to the front of his car when he nerfed Molina at the hairpin early in the race.

There was also plenty of argy-bargy between the grid’s two ex-Formula 1 drivers, with Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard both slapped with suspended grid penalties for their contretemps on the second lap of the race.

Schumacher had a lunge at Coulthard into Turn 1 on the second lap, only to succeed in hitting the Scott and pushing him wide. Trying to regain the place, ‘DC’ then tagged Schumacher at Turn 2, pitching him into a spin and the race’s only retirement. Coulthard was forced to pit for repairs and finished the race in last place, a lap adrift.

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2011 DTM Race of Nürburgring Final Classification (49 laps):

	Driver	Entrant / Car	Result
1.	Mattias Ekström	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:11:19.980
2.	Bruno Spengler	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	+ 5.533
3.	Mike Rockenfeller	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	+ 7.906
4.	Timo Scheider	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	+ 13.977
5.	Martin Tomczyk	Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008	+ 15.656
6.	Jamie Green	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	+ 17.841
7.	Edoardo Mortara	Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008	+ 18.917
8.	Gary Paffett	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	+ 19.696
9.	Filipe Albuquerque	Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008	+ 22.516
10.	Oliver Jarvis	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	+ 35.080
11.	Renger van der Zande	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	+ 35.717
12.	Miguel Molina	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2008	+ 37.252
13.	Christian Vietoris	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	+ 38.090
14.	Susie Stoddart	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	+ 45.201
15.	Maro Engel	Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008	+ 50.747
16.	Rahel Frey	Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008	+ 1:06.678
17.	David Coulthard	Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008	1 lap behind

	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	Ralf Schumacher	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1 lap