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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