Mortara: DTM drivers will "take matters into their own hands"

The Audi driver, who cruised to a comfortable win in the opening race of the season, was involved in a multi-car pile-up at Turn 2 in the second race at Hockenheim

The incident, triggered by Antonio Felix da Costa, spun Mortara round and dropped him to the rear of the field, while Bruno Spengler, Esteban Ocon and Jamie Green all got stuck in the gravel. No penalties were awarded.

After the race, an irate Mortara, who went on to finish 12th (11th after Timo Glock's exclusion), said: “What happened was unacceptable.

"We’re a touring car championship, of course there is going to be contact, but there has to be a limit.

“For the most part, we’re quite experienced, we’re not young go-karters. You can’t win a race on the first lap. And with our cars, if you have contact, you’re handicapped for the whole race."

Mortara said it was up to the stewards to penalise bad behaviour, or else drivers would be tempted to "serve their own justice".

“Before, there were certain rules," added the Italian. "If you spun someone off, you would get a drive-through. Now, nothing at all happens.

“This will end badly, because sooner or later, we will be forced to take matters into our own hands.”

Watch the Race 2 start crash:

Overtaking moves "on the limit of fairness"

What did the rest of the paddock make of what went on at Hockenheim? Motorsport.com sounded out some drivers and team bosses to get their thoughts on the action:

Marco Wittmann (BMW): "I think it’s normal. In the first and in the last race of a season everybody wants to prove himself and show what he can do. Race two was a bit more normal, I would say. Maybe some drivers were a bit over-enthusiastic in the beginning, and sometimes it was a bit too much."

Timo Glock (BMW): "It’s the usual in an opening race of the season. There are a lot of emotions in play. But I think it was a good show for the fans as I haven’t seen a car without damage."

Gary Paffett (Mercedes): "We touched and had nice fights, it was good racing. However, Ekstrom’s move [on me] was illegal, as he left the track before he smashed into me. You just don’t do that."

Timo Scheider (Audi): "People were driving very aggressively. The fight for P15 was as hard as it gets, as if there was no tomorrow. This is great for the fans, it's exactly what they want. But it’s hardcore for sure."

Jens Marquardt (BMW boss): "Sometimes it was on the limit of fairness. Maybe something like this [Ekstrom's move on Paffett] should be punished with a race ban rather than with a black-and-white flag or a drive through. We have to see what makes sense in these kinds of situations."

Ulrich Fritz (Mercedes boss): "It was super exciting and spectacular for the fans. Basically, it was what touring cars is all about: rubbing and racing hard."

Additional reporting by Emmanuel Rolland and Stefan Ziegler