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.
————————————————————————————————————-
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 |
[Original image via DTM official site]
Richard Bailey
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