2014 DTM : Maiden DTM victory for Marco Wittmann and the BMW M4 DTM

2014 DTM - R1 Hockenheim winner : No.23 Marco Wittmann - BMW Team RMG - BMW M4 DTM

HOCKENHEIM : With the BMW M4 DTM, Marco Wittmann wins the DTM season opener at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, scoring his maiden DTM victory. In a thrilling race with many overtaking manoeuvres, the 24-year old eventually won by a margin of 12.869 seconds from Mattias Ekström and Adrien Tambay (both Audi), the latter having started from pole position. In eleventh place, Pascal Wehrlein was the fastest Mercedes-Benz driver in the Hockenheim season opener. A full press release with quotes from the successful drivers will follow shortly.

The race in detail

Start	Tambay is leading from Spengler, Wittmann and Félix da Costa who runs wide at the first corner.
Lap 1	Wittmann overtakes Spengler coming out of turn 1 and is now second. Green runs wide at the hairpin. Green's car is damaged at the front left side. Scheider collides with Mortara in the battle for sixth and gets past.
Lap 2	Tambay is leading from Wittmann, Spengler, Da Costa, Glock, Scheider, Mortara, Ekström, Rockenfeller and Tomczyk. Glock overtakes Spengler for fourth. Green into the pits - retires.
Lap 3	Wittmann overtakes Tambay under braking for the hairpin and takes the lead. Tambay tries to counter, but to no avail.
Lap 4	Wickens attacks Hand in the battle for 14th and gets past. Vietoris passes Hand as well.
Lap 5	Battle between Scheider and Glock for fourth place, Glock defends his position.
Lap 6	The battle between Scheider and Glock continues.
Lap 7	Wickens overtakes Tomczyk for tenth. Scheider overtakes Glock and is now fourth.
Lap 8	Wickens overtakes Rockenfeller and is now ninth.
Lap 9	Wickens attacks Spengler and gets past in the battle for eighth. Vietoris overtakes Tomczyk and is now eleventh.
Lap 10	Vietoris overtakes Rockenfeller for tenth.
Lap 11	Wickens overtakes Ekström under braking for the hairpin and is now seventh.
Lap 12	Wittmann is leading from Tambay, Da Costa, Scheider, Glock, Mortara, Wickens, Ekström, Vietoris and Spengler.
Lap 12	Petrov overtakes Juncadella and is now 21st.
Lap 13	Rockenfeller overtakes Spengler for tenth.
Lap 14	Pit window now open until lap 28.
Lap 15	Wickens overtakes Mortara and is now sixth. Hand overtakes Paffett for 15th. Scheider attacks Da Costa for third, but can't get past.
Lap 17	Scheider keeps the pressure on Da Costa.
Lap 19	Scheider finally overtakes Da Costa under braking for the hairpin and gets past. Da Costa counters, but Scheider remains in front. Glock is the first to come in for a pit stop.
Lap 20	Wittmann, Tambay, Scheider, Da Costa, Wickens, Vietoris into the pits.
Lap 21	Paffett, Wehrlein, Petrov into the pits.
Lap 22	Mortara, Ekström, Rockenfeller, Spengler, Farfus, Di Resta, Martin, Müller and Juncadella into the pits.
Lap 23	Martin almost collides with Juncadella when leaving his pit stand and then loses the left front wheel of his car after the stop.
Lap 23	Martin almost collides with Juncadela when leaving his pit stand and then loses the left front wheel of his car after the stop.
Lap 23	Martin almost collides with Juncadella when leaving his pit stand and then loses the left front wheel of his car after the stop. Tomczyk, Hand, Molina into the pits.
Lap 24	Martin is given a drive-through penalty because of an unsafe release and comes in at the end of the lap.
Lap 25	Order after the pit stops: Wittmann is leading from Tambay, Scheider, Glock, Da Costa, Mortara, Ekström, Vietoris, Wickens and Rockenfeller. Hand overtakes Paffett and is 14th.
Lap 26	Da Costa overtakes Glock under braking for the hairpin and is now fourth.
Lap 27	Rockenfeller and Spengler overtake Wickens, who drops back from ninth to eleventh.
Lap 28	Farfus and Tomczyk overtake Wickens.
Lap 29	Spengler overtakes Vietoris and is now ninth, then Vietoris loses two more places to Farfus and Vietoris.
Lap 32	Puncture left rear tyre for Edoardo Mortara under braking for the hairpin.
Lap 33	With ten laps remaining, Wittmann is leading from Tambay, Scheider, Da Costa, Glock, Ekström, Rockenfeller, Spengler, Farfus and Tomczyk.
Lap 34	Scheider and Da Costa collide in the hairpin, Scheider spins, but continues. Da Costa into the pits for a tyre change, he is also under investigation because of the collision.
Lap 35	Farfus overtakes Spengler for seventh, Ekström overtakes Glock and is now third. Drive through penalty for Da Costa, comes in at the end of the lap.
Lap 38	Ekström overtakes Tambay for second from the slipstream coming out of the final corner. Da Costa into the pits and retires.
Lap 40	Rockenfeller attacks Glock for fourth and gets past under braking for the hairpin.
Lap 42	Final lap. Farfus attacks Scheider for sixth, the two collide. Spengler and Tomczyk get past. Wittmann wins from Ekström, Tambay, Rockenfeller, Glock, Spengler, Tomczyk, Farfus, Scheider and Hand.

Images : 2014 DTM - Round 1 : Hockenheim











[Source : DTM]