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DTM Hungaroring: Ekstrom wins as title rivals collide at the start

Mattias Ekstrom took a convincing win in the second DTM race at the Hungaroring as championship contenders Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann came to blows at the start

Abt Sportsline driver Ekstrom led from the start and pulled clear of Adrien Tambay through the opening stint, resuming the lead after the pitstop phase before cruising to his first win in the series since August 2015.

But the main talking point was a collision between the top two in the championship at the start, as Wittmann survived contact with Mortara to extend his points lead.

UPDATE: Wittmann and Juncadella excluded

While Ekstrom got off the line well from second on the grid, team-mate and polesitter Mortara spun his wheels and immediately found himself under pressure from Wittmann who had started third.

Mortara squeezed the BMW man onto the grass as Wittmann tried to come around the outside, a move he managed to make stick.

But with Jamie Green also starting well on Mortara's right-hand side, and Wittmann trying to get all four wheels back on the track, Mortara made contact with Wittmann's right-rear panel and spat the BMW M4 across his front and into Green, before Wittmann corrected his wild slide.

That allowed Mortara to briefly recover to second, with Ekstrom trying to slow to allow him back into the lead, but he soon dropped back through the field having picked up a puncture in the incident.

The Saturday race winner dropped to 21st as a result and trundled around in that position before retiring three laps from the finish.

However, Mortara had managed to hold up the majority of the field as he limped back to the pits with his puncture, and that allowed Ekstrom and Tambay to escape at the front, well clear of Mercedes driver Dani Juncadella and the recovering Wittmann - who had a buffer of five BMWs behind him.

Tambay was able to get closer to Ekstrom through the pitstop phase having pitted earlier, but Ekstrom gradually eased clear to claim his first win of 2016 in his last DTM start of the year, as he will miss the Hockenheim finale to concentrate on his World Rallycross Championship bid.

Juncadella made the most of the opening lap chaos to claim third, having avoided the melee at the start to advance from 11th on the grid to a first podium in the DTM.

Wittmann crossed the line in fourth, having had to pass Antonio Felix da Costa on track before the finish after the Portuguese and fellow BMW driver had jumped him in the pits.

That result extended Wittmann's championship lead to 26 points over Mortara ahead of the season finale at the Hockenheim.

Da Costa brought his BMW M4 fifth ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Timo Glock.

Timo Scheider finished eighth in his Team Phoenix Audi, having overcome Maxime Martin towards the finish.

RACE TWO RESULT (UPDATED)

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 36 59m09.402s
2 Adrien Tambay Rosberg Audi 36 4.350s
3 Antonio Felix da Costa Schnitzer BMW 36 24.209s
4 Tom Blomqvist RBM BMW 36 26.067s
5 Timo Glock RMG BMW 36 26.813s
6 Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 36 31.792s
7 Maxime Martin RBM BMW 36 38.310s
8 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 36 38.675s
9 Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 36 39.966s
10 Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 36 40.327s
11 Felix Rosenqvist ART Mercedes 36 40.710s
12 Bruno Spengler MTEK BMW 36 41.317s
13 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 36 41.777s
14 Christian Vietoris Mucke Mercedes 36 42.352s
15 Lucas Auer Mucke Mercedes 36 42.755s
16 Gary Paffett ART Mercedes 36 43.015s
17 Maximilian Gotz HWA Mercedes 36 45.388s
18 Miguel Molina Abt Audi 36 1m07.034s
19 Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 33 3 Laps
- Daniel Juncadella HWA Mercedes 36 Disqualified
- Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 36 Disqualified
- Nico Muller Abt Audi 8 Retirement
- Augusto Farfus MTEK BMW 2 Retirement
- Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 1 Retirement

DRIVERS' STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Marco Wittmann 176
2 Edoardo Mortara 162
3 Jamie Green 137
4 Robert Wickens 122
5 Mattias Ekstrom 107
6 Tom Blomqvist 105
7 Paul Di Resta 100
8 Nico Muller 88
9 Maxime Martin 82
10 Gary Paffett 73
11 Lucas Auer 68
12 Timo Glock 68
13 Bruno Spengler 51
14 Augusto Farfus 44
15 Christian Vietoris 42
16 Miguel Molina 41
17 Adrien Tambay 40
18 Antonio Felix da Costa 31
19 Mike Rockenfeller 21
20 Maximilian Gotz 17
21 Martin Tomczyk 15
22 Timo Scheider 13
23 Daniel Juncadella 6
24 Felix Rosenqvist 5
25 Esteban Ocon 2
26 Rene Rast 0


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