Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Tomczyk takes Spielberg victory

Martin Tomczyk took his first DTM win for nearly two years with a faultless performance at Spielberg

The German made a great getaway from pole position and stayed in front for most of the way - only dropping back while differing pit strategies came into play during the middle of the race.

Significantly, it was Phoenix Racing's first DTM victory for 11 years and its first as an Audi team. It also allowed Tomczyk to close to within three points of Bruno Spengler at the top of the championship.

Ralf Schumacher finished second, having overtaken Oliver Jarvis at the first round of pitstops - the Abt Audi driver spending more than two seconds longer stationary than his HWA Mercedes rival.

Schumacher, who had been over four seconds behind Tomczyk at half-distance, reduced his deficit to just 0.4s by the chequered flag and was followed home by Jarvis, who took his first podium finish of the year after an equally fine drive.

Spengler's was arguably the performance of the race. The Canadian made a fine start to move up from 12th to eighth on the opening lap, and then ran a 22-lap stint on his first set of tyres.

By the time all the pitstops had been completed, the HWA driver's mid-race pace had brought him up to fourth, and he spent the final nine laps trying to pass Jarvis - unsuccessfully - for the final podium spot.

Mike Rockenfeller (Abt) and Jamie Green (HWA) were next up, the latter having jumped ahead of Timo Scheider (Abt) at the first round of stops.

Scheider was forced to defend his seventh place from Gary Paffett during the final laps, the HWA man very quick on his final set of tyres after falling backwards during the opening stint.

Edoardo Mortara and Maro Engel should have been among them too, but tangled at the first corner, resulting in a spin to the rear of the field for the Rosberg Audi driver. Engel (Mucke Mercedes) was given a drive-through penalty for 'causing an avoidable incident'.

The worst race of all was endured by Mattias Ekstrom. After starting from the back of the grid, the Abt driver had got only as high as 16th when he made his first pitstop, but pulled away without his front right-wheel properly attached. He was an instant retirement.

Results - 38 laps:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car            Time/Gap
 1.  Martin Tomczyk        Phoenix Audi      55m55.117s
 2.  Ralf Schumacher       HWA Mercedes        + 0.462s
 3.  Oliver Jarvis         Abt Audi            + 2.749s
 4.  Bruno Spengler        HWA Mercedes        + 2.999s
 5.  Mike Rockenfeller     Abt Audi           + 10.364s
 6.  Jamie Green           HWA Mercedes       + 10.984s
 7.  Timo Scheider         Abt Audi           + 12.179s
 8.  Gary Paffett          HWA Mercedes       + 12.660s
 9.  David Coulthard       Mucke Mercedes     + 14.246s
10.  Renger van der Zande  Persson Mercedes   + 15.669s
11.  Miguel Molina         Abt Audi           + 16.266s
12.  Filipe Albuquerque    Rosberg Audi       + 19.608s
13.  Susie Stoddart        Persson Mercedes   + 26.311s
14.  Maro Engel            Mucke Mercedes     + 26.805s
15.  Christian Vietoris    Persson Mercedes   + 28.071s
16.  Edoardo Mortara       Rosberg Audi       + 35.893s
17.  Rahel Frey            Phoenix Audi       + 43.420s

Retirements:

     Mattias Ekstrom       Abt Audi             12 laps

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Tomczyk on wet Spielberg pole
Next article Engel: Spielberg penalty unfair

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe