Ekstrom calls for Audi improvement

Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk are second and third in the standings respectively, and Tomczyk had been leading the championship before his first lap retirement at the Norisring.

But Ekstrom, who secured Audi's most recent DTM title in 2004, believes that the team need to up their game if they are to offer Mercedes a genuine battle for the rest of the season.

"We've only won one out of five races this year, so we have to improve that," Ekstrom told autosport.com.

Tomczyk recently said that he was prepared to settle for consistent finishes rather than going for victories to secure the title, but Ekstrom believes that consistency might not be enough this year.

"It's so close, but everybody has been consistent," Ekstrom added. "Consistency is one thing, but you need to be quick.

"The difference between first to third, or first to fifth, is really small this year so you have to have the speed."

Ekstrom also shrugged off claims that Mercedes had started the year on the back foot with their new car.

"Mercedes were on pole at Hockenheim but they had some technical issues, otherwise they would have been there all the time," he said.

Ekstrom is currently second in the standings to Bernd Schneider, who leads him by 1.5 points.