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Zandvoort DTM: Antonio Felix da Costa gets first win in BMW sweep

Antonio Felix da Costa claimed his maiden DTM victory at Zandvoort, capping a dominant weekend for BMW by leading its sweep of the top five places

From pole position, da Costa made a slick start to secure the lead, and resisted early pressure from Bruno Spengler, who in turn had Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann behind.

Spengler and Wittmann were the first of the group to pit, just before the 20-minute mark, the latter involved in a tight moment exiting pitlane with Audi's Miguel Molina.

A lap later, da Costa and Farfus made their mandatory stops, with da Costa retaining the lead and Farfus jumping up to second on the road.

While Farfus quickly latched onto the bumper of da Costa's BMW and was never more than half a second behind, he couldn't find a way past and the Red Bull Formula 1 reserve claimed his first DTM victory, a day after taking his first podium.

Spengler was third ahead of Timo Glock - who gained several places by pitting a lap before the leaders - in a four-car lead pack.

Three seconds further back, Saturday victor Marco Wittmann was fifth, completing BMW's 1-2-3-4-5, a day after he led its sweep of the top seven.

Wittmann was not penalised for contact with Lucas Auer mid-race, while the rookie was running out of position before making his pitstop.

Auer went off the road and through the following corners the pack he led rubbed doors and swapped places, with Martin Tomczyk the biggest casualty, damage ending his race.

Mercedes' Pascal Wehrlein lost ground early, with a slow start dropping him to ninth, but he recovered to sixth to finish the race as the best non-BMW, at the head of a six-car pack.

Right behind him was Mattias Ekstrom, who chipped away at the result from 16th on the grid in his Audi, Christian Vietoris, Adrien Tambay and Gary Paffett.

For Tambay, it was his first points of the season, while Paffett was delayed by a slow pitstop, having run inside the top 10 early, and Mike Rockenfeller had to settle for 11th.

Jamie Green was a quiet 13th, one spot ahead of Paul di Resta.

Green leaves as the championship leader, but is now just five points ahead of both Ekstrom and Wehrlein.

Maxime Martin finished third on Saturday but was forced wide by Edoardo Mortra and Tambay on the second lap and dropped to last. He eventually finished 17th.

Mortara later clashed with Daniel Juncadella, the impact sending Juncadella's Mercedes wide and airborne over the verge between an escape road and grass and ended both drivers' races.

Tom Blomqvist and Robert Wickens also clashed on their way to 18th and 19th, Blomqvist earning a drive-through penalty.

RESULTS - 39 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Antonio Felix da Costa Schnitzer BMW 1h02m07.601s
2 Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 0.473s
3 Bruno Spengler MTEK BMW 1.091s
4 Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1.710s
5 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 4.975s
6 Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 10.954s
7 Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 11.275s
8 Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 11.567s
9 Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 11.910s
10 Gary Paffett ART Mercedes 12.247s
11 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 12.661s
12 Miguel Molina Abt Audi 15.130s
13 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 15.942s
14 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 16.456s
15 Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 16.853s
16 Maximilian Gotz Mucke Mercedes 18.319s
17 Maxime Martin RMG BMW 29.708s
18 Tom Blomqvist RBM BMW 32.670s
19 Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 52.235s
20 Lucas Auer ART Mercedes 52.818s
21 Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 8 Laps
- Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi Retirement
- Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes Retirement
- Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW Retirement

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Jamie Green 81
2 Mattias Ekstrom 76
3 Pascal Wehrlein 76
4 Edoardo Mortara 58
5 Robert Wickens 57
6 Bruno Spengler 52
7 Marco Wittmann 49
8 Antonio Felix da Costa 43
9 Christian Vietoris 40
10 Gary Paffett 37
11 Augusto Farfus 35
12 Maxime Martin 32
13 Miguel Molina 27
14 Timo Glock 25
15 Mike Rockenfeller 25
16 Paul Di Resta 23
17 Martin Tomczyk 20
18 Timo Scheider 16
19 Daniel Juncadella 14
20 Nico Muller 12
21 Tom Blomqvist 6
22 Adrien Tambay 2
23 Lucas Auer 2
24 Maximilian Gotz 0


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