Ekstrom punished for Audi orders

Ekstrom finished the race at the Dutch track in second place after making up a deficit of more than five seconds to the 2008-spec Audis of Oliver Jarvis and Alexandre Premat in just a handful of laps towards the end of the race, but he has been handed a five-second penalty, which drops him to third behind Jarvis.

The manner in which he caught and passed the Phoenix team's drivers sparked an investigation by the German motorsport authority, with the decision being that Audi had breached Article 20.2 of the DTM sporting regulations, which states: "Team orders which interfere with the race result are prohibited."

Further discussions between the officials and Audi team members took place at Oschersleben on Friday, before the decision to penalise Ekstrom, and fine both the Abt Sportline and Team Phoenix squads was confirmed in the afternoon.

A statement from the officials said: "After due appreciation of all the evidence, the stewards consider that the drivers Jarvis and Premat allowed Ekstrom to catch up and move ahead, all in co-ordination with the relative competitors.

"In passing drivers Jarvis and Premat under these circumstances, driver Ekstrom gained an advantage. This represents a case of prohibited team orders."

Ekstrom could not be dropped behind Premat in the results as well, as the Frenchman was excluded after the race for taking too long after the race to get himself weighed.

Abt and Phoenix have been fined 25,000 Euros each, although only 5000 Euros has to be paid immediately. The remaining 20,000 of both fines is a suspended punishment, which will only be paid if there is a further breach of the rules during the rest of this season.

Jarvis and Premat have also been reprimanded, and Audi has confirmed that it will not appeal any of the decisions.