Hockenheim DTM: Rast seals title as Wittmann wins finale
Rene Rast fought back from a poor start to take the 2017 DTM title, as Marco Wittmann was victorious in the final race of the season at Hockenheim.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The 30-year-old German became the first rookie to become DTM champion since Alfa Romeo driver Nicola Larini in 1993.
Rast, who needed to finish in the top four in order to have a chance to win the title, lost out at the start from second on the grid, with Lucas Auer fighting his way through at Turn 1.
The Austrian nudged Rast off-track, and the German found himself down in fifth by the end of Lap 1.
However, he recovered by passing Robert Wickens into the Mercedes Arena corner and Auer on the main straight on Laps 4 and 8 respectively.
He only had BMW duo Tom Blomqvist and Wittmann ahead, the former building a small gap from pole position in the early stages, but soon losing pace.
That allowed Wittmann to close the gap back, the 2016 champion also bringing Rast with him.
When Wittmann was finally all over Blomqvist, he took to the pits, leaving his BMW stablemate to defend from Rast.
After an unsuccessful overtaking attempt from Rast, Blomqvist also pitted and rejoined behind Wittmann, who he could not keep up with.
When Rast finally changed his tyres, he returned to the track well behind Wittmann but managed to narrowly keep position ahead of Blomqvist and Robert Wickens as he got his cold tyres up to temperature.
Soon, the two drivers behind him made contact at the hairpin, with Wickens damaging the rear part of the BMW, resulting in a penalty for him and a retirement for Blomqvist.
Rast was now running second, but still faced the threat of losing the title as Mattias Ekstrom, points leader, was coming into the race.
The Swede started 14th and was initially having a quiet race, opting for a late-pitting strategy. In the end, he got close to making it to the top six, which would have been enough for Ekstrom to clinch his third championship.
He managed to overtake the Mercedes cars of Auer and Edoardo Mortara but ran out of time to make up further ground, eventually settling for eighth.
Fellow title contender Jamie Green had a similarly low-key run and, while he took fifth thanks to a late-race recovery, he needed to have finished ahead of Rast for the title.
Rast eventually arrived at the chequered flag three seconds behind race winner Wittmann and three ahead of Audi's fourth title hopeful Mike Rockenfeller, who had only an outside shot at the crown.
Gary Paffett was the top Mercedes in fourth, closely followed by fellow Briton Green, and the BMWs of Maxime Martin and Augusto Farfus.
The top 10 was completed by Ekstrom, Mortara and Auer.
Race results
Cla | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 DTM | 56'47.699 |
2 | René Rast | Audi RS5 DTM | 3.143 |
3 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 DTM | 6.280 |
4 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15.844 |
5 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 DTM | 17.835 |
6 | Maxime Martin | BMW M4 DTM | 19.372 |
7 | Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 DTM | 20.386 |
8 | Mattias Ekström | Audi RS5 DTM | 21.229 |
9 | Edoardo Mortara | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 22.902 |
10 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 29.260 |
11 | Nico Müller | Audi RS5 DTM | 30.428 |
12 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 DTM | 33.274 |
13 | Maro Engel | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41.344 |
14 | Bruno Spengler | BMW M4 DTM | 41.591 |
15 | Loic Duval | Audi RS5 DTM | 42.972 |
16 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'35.770 |
17 | Robert Wickens | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 laps |
18 | Tom Blomqvist | BMW M4 DTM |
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