The top 10 DTM drivers of 2014

Very few people had Marco Wittmann as their hot favourite for the 2014 DTM title, but the young German absolutely crushed a field of top-notch drivers to take the crown.

It was a season of curious form. While Wittmann was dominant, frontrunning pace was hard to come by for the rest of the BMW drivers. Audi, meanwhile, had a lightning quick car but struggled to win races, while Mercedes picked up wins even though its C-Coupe lacked the aero and balance of the other two cars.

While anything resembling a title fight was non-existent, there were some interesting performances up and down the grid.

Here's AUTOSPORT's top 10.

1. MARCO WITTMANN
Team RMG BMW M4 DTM
Champ pos: 1st (156 points)
Wins: 4
Poles: 3
Fastest Laps: 3

There was absolutely no competition for the #1 spot for the 2014 season.

As dominant as Marco Wittmann's win at the season opener at Hockenheim was, few would have predicted that it would so clearly define the rest of the season. But that's how it played out; four wins in total, three poles, three fastest laps, and the title wrapped up two rounds early.

Wittmann actually topped every single major stat, including laps led (165, 58 more than second best Robert Wickens), and scored in all bar one race - at Oschersleben, where he started from pole and was only slowed by an electrical problem.

The best thing about Wittmann's 2014 season is that he really went out and won races. After he won his second race of the season at the Hungaroring, he could have easily taken his foot off the gas, played it safe, and relied on fourths and fifths to be enough to win the title. But instead he and BMW kept fighting for wins, and added another couple of victories to make sure there wasn't ever a title fight.

To put it simply, it was a world-class season from a deserving champion.

2. JAMIE GREEN
Team Rosberg Audi RS5 DTM
Champ pos: 10th (43 points)
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0

Based on stats alone it may be difficult to see how Jamie Green has ranked so high. At the end of the day, zero wins, zero poles, zero fastest laps, and 10th in the final standings doesn't scream 'stand-out year'.

And that's fair enough; in a lot of ways it was a tough season for the Briton, who admitted to over-driving and making more mistakes than he cares to make.

His self-criticism may well be warranted, but even despite those mistakes, his outright pace was at times exceptional. For example, his opening stint in the wet at Oschersleben was spellbinding, and had the safety cars not worked against him he would have almost certainly won that race. The same could be said for the season finale at Hockenheim.

Green was also exceptionally consistent in qualifying, which, combined with his sheer pace, earns him the #2 spot for 2014.

3. MATTIAS EKSTROM
Abt Sportsline Audi RS5 DTM
Champ pos: 2nd (106 points)
Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 1

Mattias Ekstrom was the 'King of the Second Stint' in 2014.

The Swede was the most willing of the frontrunners to roll the strategic dice when it came to choosing between the option and prime tyres. While the standard strategy for the top seven or eight after qualifying was start on options, then switch to primes, Ekstrom often dabbled with the opposite idea - even when starting near the front.

It took a while for the gamble to pay off, but when the safety cars finally started falling his way Ekstrom was able to rack up vital wins at Zandvoort and Hockenheim to close out the season, which not only saved Audi from the prospect of a win-less year, but helped the Ingolstadt brand win the makes' title.

Interestingly, despite winning two races Ekstrom led just 13 laps all season - 11 at Zandvoort, and two at Hockenheim.

4. ROBERT WICKENS
HWA Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Champ pos: 12th (41 points)
Wins: 1
Poles: 2
Fastest Laps: 0

Like Jamie Green, Robert Wickens earned his spot in the top half of the top 10 on pure speed, rather than consistency or ultimate championship position.

Wickens was just third best of the Mercedes drivers in terms of points, behind Christian Vietoris and Pascal Wehrlein, but it was the Canadian who could grab the troublesome C-Coupe by the scruff of the neck and drag pace out of it better than anyone else.

He proved so with his stunning drive in difficult conditions at the Norisring, where he won comfortably, while his pole lap at the Red Bull Ring was sublime. He could well have won that race as well, had it not been for the unsafe release controversy that ultimately saw him disqualified from the race.

5. PASCAL WEHRLEIN
HWA Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Champ pos: 8th (46 points)
Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Fastest Laps: 0

It was a tough year away from the track for Pascal Wehrlein, but the Mercedes protege delivered in terms of results.

While Wehrlein was essentially quick all season, it was in the last third of the season that he really stepped up his game. Being named the Mercedes Formula 1 team's reserve driver, and having his first laps in an F1 car, seemed to do wonders for Wehrlein's confidence, which he showed with a stunning pole/win combo in mixed weather conditions at the Lausitzring.

Wehrlein was also Mercedes' most consistent qualifier, making Q3 five times, and scored 43 more points than he did in his rookie season in 2013.

If Wehrlein stays in the DTM and if Mercedes can provide a more consistently quick car, this kid could be one to really watch in 2015.

6. MIKE ROCKENFELLER
Team Phoenix Audi RS5 DTM
Champ pos: 3rd (72 points)
Wins: 0
Poles: 1
Fastest Laps: 1

The 2013 champion wasn't blindingly quick on many occasions this season, but he was consistent. And in the end, his three second places (Oschersleben, Nurburgring and Hockenheim) not only helped him to third in the standings, but played a vital role in Audi's manufacturers' title win.

Despite not winning a race, it has to be said that Rockenfeller did make the most out of the times that he did have a frontrunning car beneath him, particularly at Oschersleben where his second place came down to tenacity in a race that was constantly evolving through the weather and the safety cars.

The only exception to that would be in Russia, where he threw away a decent result by piling into the back of Adrien Tambay while running fourth.

7. EDOARDO MORTARA
Abt Audi RS5 DTM
Champ pos: 5th (68 points)
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0

It was a strange year for Edoardo Mortara. He generally turned promising grid positions into bad race results (sixth and third into 22nd at the two Hockenheim races), and bad grid positions into good race results, such as turning 23rd into fourth at Zandvoort - albeit with a bit of help from the safety car.

Despite finishing in the top four at four different races, Mortara never really threatened to win in 2014. Still, he scored often enough to rack up 68 points, and was one of the last drivers in contention - although little more than mathematically - for the title before Wittmann wrapped it up at the Lausitzring.

On the negative side, the Italian copped a bit of criticism about his aggressive driving at times during the season, particularly after his battle with Timo Glock at the Hungaroring.

8. MAXIME MARTIN
Team RMG BMW M4 DTM
Champ pos: 7th (47 points)
Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Fastest Laps: 0

When a rookie wins a race, it's hard to not include him in the top 10 for the season.

Maxime Martin's win in Russia was impressive. It was a case of starting from pole and leading the whole way. Yes, there was an element of luck in terms of the timing of the mid-race safety car, but it was more that he was lucky his strategy wasn't ruined by the caution, not that the caution brought him into the race from nowhere. In other words, it was a completely deserving win.

However, the challenge for Martin next year is to not spend so much time buried in the midfield. His best results outside of the wins were a pair of sixths at the Hungaroring and Zandvoort, while he spent the majority of the season battling for spots outside the points.

The Moscow drive is a sign that he's capable of competing at this level. Now he has to go out and do it more often.

9. CHRISTIAN VIETORIS
HWA Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Champ pos: 4th (69 points)
Wins: 1
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0

Vietoris is in the top 10 for two important reasons: he won a race, and he finished fourth, and best of the Mercedes drivers, in the final standings.

His maiden win at Oschersleben was lucky, no doubt about it. In dry conditions it would never have happened; Vietoris had qualified just 17th on the Saturday. But as it turned out, after pitting at the end of the formation lap, the safety cars fell just right on the rain-affected race day. Still, as fortunate as it was, Vietoris did well to capitalise on the situation and hold off Rockenfeller to win.

It could be argued that Vietoris' second place at the Lausitzring was an even better drive, based purely on his impressive defending as he staved off the faster Audi of Timo Scheider.

10. ANTONIO FELIX DA COSTA
Team MTEK BMW M4 DTM
Champ pos: 21st (6 points)
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0

Undoubtedly the most controversial inclusion in the top 10. Just six points, and 21st in the standings, isn't all that impressive at a glance.

However, da Costa makes the cut based on how quickly he got up to speed in the DTM. Rather than dwelling on the disappointment of missing out on the Toro Rosso F1 seat to Daniil Kvyat, da Costa dusted himself off, did a DTM deal, and went racing.

His first three race weekends in a tin-top were pretty good, too. He made Q3 at Hockenheim, Oschersleben and the Hungaroring, and could well have scored a decent haul of points had it not been for a silly clash with Timo Scheider in the first race, and some bad luck with the weather in the second.

After that, though, he seemed to fall away from the sweet spot in terms of car set-up. He didn't make Q3 once after the first three races, and didn't finish in the points again until the season finale.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Paul di Resta could have easily made this list. Often it looked as if he underperformed in 2014, but in reality he was up against it.

For starters, stepping back from F1 to the DTM is tough, even if you have DTM experience. And on top of that he had to deal with the tricky C-Coupe, which was anything by user-friendly for the majority of the season.

There were some decent drives from the Scot, too. He was impressive in the wet at Oschersleben, and would have started second at the Norisring had he not been turned around by Green behind the safety car at the start.

His drives at the Lausitzring and Hockenheim for the finale were excellent, as if he was finally starting to feel comfortable back in a DTM car.

Audi youngster Nico Muller was also impressively quick at times during his rookie year, particularly at Zandvoort, where he was in contention for a podium before being caught out by the safety car.

Martin Tomczyk, meanwhile, wound up second-best BMW driver and sixth in the standings, a product of consistency rather than outright pace. The 2011 champion struggled with qualifying most of the season, but still managed to finish in the points seven times from 10 races.