Race report
DTM Norisring
Norisring DTM: Wickens dominates as Vietoris is thwarted
Robert Wickens scored his first DTM win of the season after his Mercedes teammate Christian Vietoris’s hopes of victory were dashed by a tardy pitstop at the legendary Norisring street circuit.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Jun 28, 2015, 5:18 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
From pole position, BMW’s Bruno Spengler led into Turn 1 ahead of Wickens, Vietoris, Lucas Auer and the leading Audi of Mattias Ekstrom. Yesterday’s winner Pascal Wehrlein attacked Ekstrom hard for fifth, ahead of Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta, as points leader Jamie Green made a poor start.
Timo Glock lost the bonnet of his BMW after Maxi Gotz ran into the back of his car at Turn 1 and pushed him into another BMW. The debris from this caused an early safety car.
Other early casualties were Mike Rockenfeller and Augusto Farfus. Frontrunner Auer’s race was compromised due to being lined up incorrectly at the start, and he was given a 5s time penalty.
At the restart on lap eight, Wickens attacked Spengler, but the Canadian clung tenaciously to his lead.
But he was powerless to resist when Wickens used his DRS to pass into Turn 1 on lap 14. Getting offline in an attempt to repass, Spengler tumbled backwards, with Vietoris demoting him with a bold move at the Schoeller Esses, which served to wrong-foot Spengler even more, and he lost further places to Auer and Ekstrom.
Ekstrom lunged past Auer for third at the final corner on lap 17, but was now well adrift of the lead battle between Wickens and Vietoris.
Wickens had a scare in traffic, getting perilously close to Marco Wittmann as he lapped the reigning champion’s BMW.
Wehrlein was the first of the leaders to take their mandatory pitstop, with Ekstrom and Spengler pitting and rejoining together soon after.
Wickens pitted from the lead on lap 34, with a 2.5s stop that got him out well clear of Ekstrom. Vietoris stopped a lap later, but a slow left-rear change cost him two seconds, putting him briefly in Ekstrom’s range.
Wickens was gifted a 2.5s lead, which he maintained until the end. Ekstrom dropped away in third, but had Spengler snapping at his heels in the late stages.
Spengler made it past him with a robust move at Turn 1, during which he clanged into the side of the Swede's retro-liveried Audi to scoop a podium finish.
Di Resta jumped ahead of Wehrlein during the pitstop cycle to run fifth, and was ordered to let him past – but the positions were reversed again in the final moments, and then changed back again to ensure Wehrlein finished fifth to maximise his points score.
Paffett was seventh, ahead of Dani Juncadella. Auer dropped back to 11th after taking his 5s stop/go penalty during his pit visit. He would finish ninth.
Points leader Green suffered his worst race of the season, and only cracked the top ten after 20 laps. He pitted early, but a slow stop cost him the position he’d gained on Dani Juncadella on track.
He was punted by Maxime Martin at Turn 1 in the closing stages which cost him his top-10 spot, giving him a puncture and demoting him to last.
Pos Driver Manufacturer Time Gap 1 Robert Wickens Mercedes 1h01m35.767 2 Chirstian Vietoris Mercedes 1h01m43.006 7.239 3 Bruno Spengler BMW 1h01m46.742 10.975 4 Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1h01m47.362 11.595 5 Pascal Wehrlein Mercedes 1h01m50.723 14.956 6 Paul Di Resta Mercedes 1h01m51.145 15.378 7 Gary Paffett Mercedes 1h01m51.865 16.098 8 Daniel Juncadella Mercedes 1h01m53.256 17.489 9 Lucas Auer Mercedes 1h02m08.638 32.871 10 Maxime Martin BMW 1h02m10.372 34.605
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Spengler surprises Mercedes to take Norisring pole
Next article Audi driver Ekström with strong performance
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Charles Bradley
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 y
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Aug 13, 2024
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Aug 12, 2024
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
More from
Mattias Ekström
Ekstrom joins Ford’s Dakar team for 2025 after Audi exit
Dakar
Dakar Oct 1, 2024
Ekstrom joins Ford’s Dakar team for 2025 after Audi exit
Ekstrom replaces injured Sainz for Extreme E season
Extreme E
Extreme E
Desert X-Prix
Mar 1, 2023
Ekstrom replaces injured Sainz for Extreme E season
Ekstrom joins World RX as sporting director for 2023 season
World Rallycross
World Rallycross Feb 8, 2023
Ekstrom joins World RX as sporting director for 2023 season
Latest news
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
General
Misc General 3 h
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
9 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
10 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe