With one of his typical recoveries Mattias Ekström clinched a podium result for Audi at Moscow Raceway in front of 50,000 spectators and captured second place in the DTM drivers’ standings.
Two weeks following his strong showing at the Norisring and a week after clinching his first victory in the World Rallycross Championship, Mattias Ekström, in the DTM’s round in Russia, again hit the headlines. In the Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, the Swede advanced from position eleven on the grid to third place, reducing the gap to overall leader Marco Wittmann to 20 points in the process. After the race at Moscow, Audi continues to lead the DTM manufacturers’ standings with a score of 223 points.
Following a qualifying session that was less than perfect for him, Ekström immediately made up four positions on lap one. On lap eleven, the time sheets reflected the Swede running in fourth place and three laps before the end of the race, he managed to snatch third place from ex-Formula One driver Timo Glock.
“Sundays seem to be my days quite often. This was another one of them – with plenty of tough fights,” said Mattias Ekström. “I had to keep my cool all the way to the end. Finishing this race in third place is okay, these are good points. However, I’m beginning to feel the loss of holding the ‘big’ trophy.”
Edoardo Mortara in the Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM in ninth place clinched two fiercely contested points after having dropped to the rear of the field following a collision with Jamie Green on the starting lap. On the final laps, the Italian on standard tires successfully defended himself against the massive attacks by Augusto Farfus and António Felix da Costa, who, like Miguel Molina behind them, were running on the much faster option tires.
Molina, in the final stage, was the only Audi driver on option tires – which proved a disadvantage this time because he was only able to pit late on account of two safety car periods, which reduced his ability to run on the faster tires to eleven laps. The best race lap was only cold comfort for the Spaniard.
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